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Romance-History  of  America:   III 

THE  COMING 
OF  THE  PEOPLES 

FRANCIS  ROLT-WHEELER 


By  FRANCIS  ROLT-WHEELER 

Round    the    World    with    the    Boy    Journalists 
PLOTTING  IN  PIRATE   SEAS 
HUNTING  HIDDEN  TREASURE  IN  THE  ANDES 
HEROES  OF  THE  RUINS 

Romance-History  of  America 

IN  THE  DAYS  BEFORE  COLUMBUS 
THE  QUEST  OF  THE  WESTERN  WORLD 
THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

NEW  YORK: GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


THIRST  KOR   EXPLORATION   HAD  SEIZED  UPON   THE  OLD  WORLD 

As  early  as  1578,  Gilbert  started  with  a  fleet  of  seven  ships  "to  discover  and  plant 
Christian  inhabitants,  in  places  convenient,  upon  those  large  and  ample  countries 
extended  northward  from  the  Cape  of  Florida  ...  not  in  the  actual  possession 
of  any  Christian  prince." 


THE  COMING 
OF  THE  PEOPLES 

BY 

FRANCIS  ROLT-WHEELER 

Author  of  "Heroes  of  the  Ruins,"  "In  the  Days  Before  Columbus," 

"Plotting  in   Pirate   Seas,"   "Hunting  Hidden  Treasure  in 

the  Andes,"  "The  Boy  with  the  U.   S.  Census," 

"The  Aztec  Hunters,"  etc. 


With  a  Frontispiece  by 

C.  A.  FEDERER 

and  Many  Illustrations 

and  Maps 


NEW  XSJr    YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,   1923, 
HY  OEOHOE   H.  DORAN   COMPAKY 


THE    COMTKG    OF    THE    PEOPLES.    I 
FEINTED   IN   THE    UNITED   STATES   OF   AMERICA 


. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 

MM) 

PERILOUS  BEGINNINGS .,     •.      .        11 

CHAPTER  II 
THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ROANOKE     .......       25 

CHAPTER  III 
JOHN  SMITH  AND  POCAHONTAS     ......       41 

CHAPTER  IV 
THE  STARVING  TIME 65 

CHAPTER  V 
THE  LAND  OF  TOBACCO 90 

CHAPTER  VI 
THE  KENT  ISLAND  FIGHT ,:     .     113 

CHAPTER  VII 
THE  GALLANTRY  OF  FRANCE .      132 

CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  COMING  OF  THE  JESUITS 158 

CHAPTER  IX 
HUDSON  AND  THE  DUTCH  .      .     •     .     .      .     .      .      183 


vi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  X 

PAOB 

WANDERINGS  OF  THE   PILGRIMS      ......     200 

CHAPTER  XI 
ON  RUGGED  PLYMOUTH  SHORE 219 

CHAPTER  XII 
THE  PURITAN  FLOOD 247 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

THIRST   FOR   EXPLORATION    HAD    SEIZED    UPON   THE 

OLD  WORLD Frontispiece 

PAGE 

A  MERCHANT  OF  THE  TIME  OF  QUEEN  ELIZABETH     .  22 

SIR  WALTER  RALEIGH 22 

SEBASTIAN  CABOT  SETTING  OUT  FROM  ENGLAND  TO 

CROSS  THE  ATLANTIC 23 

JOHN  WHITE'S  MAP  OF  VIRGINIA 23 

CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH 30 

THE  FLEET  OF  SIR  FRANCIS  DRAKE  LYING  OFF  THE 

COAST  OF  FLORIDA 30 

INDIANS  COOKING  FISH 31 

SMITH'S  MAP  OF  VIRGINIA 31 

THE  DEATH  OF  QUEEN  ELIZABETH 46 

SIR  WALTER  RALEIGH,  A  PRISONER  IN  THE  TOWER     .  47 

THE  DEFEAT  OF  THE  SPANISH  ARMADA     ....  62 

POCAHONTAS  CLAIMING  THE  LlFE  OF  THE  CONDEMNED 

MAN  AT  THE  EXECUTION  STONE 63 

THE  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  FIRST  SUPPLY 70 

POCAHONTAS  LEARNING  TO  READ 70 

CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH  DUELING  WITH  TURKS  ...  70 

THE  CROWNING  OF  POWHATAN 71 

THE  BAPTISM  OF  POCAHONTAS 94 

POCAHONTAS  AND  HER  SON 94 

THE   LOCATION   OF  THE   EARLY   COLONIAL   SETTLE- 
MENTS       95 

vii 


viii  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

MAP  SHOWING  THE  ENGLISH  AND  FRENCH  SETTLE- 
MENTS   142 

THE   FRENCH   SETTLEMENTS   IN   THE   GULF   OF   ST. 

LAWRENCE 142 

THE  SURRENDER  OF  THE  SETTLEMENTS  OF  QUEBEC 

IN  1629 143 

THE  SEA  OF  VERRAZANO 174 

HUDSON  RECEIVING  His  SAILING  ORDERS  FROM  THE 

MUSCOVY  COMPANY 174 

HENRY  HUDSON 175 

THE  HALF  MOON 190 

HUDSON  INTERVIEWS  THE  INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN     .  190 

VAN  DER  DONCK'S  MAP  OF  NEW  NETHERLAND,  1656  191 

THE  PILGRIMS  OF  THE  MAYFLOWER 206 

THE  PILGRIMS  ATTEMPT  TO  ESCAPE  TO  HOLLAND       .  207 

THE  FIRST  THANKSGIVING  IN  AMERICA     ....  207 

A  MODEL  OF  THE  MAYFLOWER 222 

THE  MAYFLOWER  IN  PROVINCETOWN  HARBOR       .      .  222 

THE  DUNES  OF  PROVINCETOWN 223 

PILGRIM  MEERSTEADS  ALONG  TOWN  BROOK     .      .      .  223 

THE  PILGRIM 238 

ST.  GEORGE'S  FORT  ON  THE  KENNEBEC  RIVER       .      .  239 

CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH'S  MAP  OF  NEW  ENGLAND  254 


THE  COMING 
OF  THE  PEOPLES 


THE  COMING  OF 
THE  PEOPLES 

CHAPTER  I 

PERILOUS  BEGINNINGS 

The  Spaniards  exploited  America  for  gold,  the 
French  established  trading-posts  for  furs,  the 
English  bnilt  homes.  The  gold  was  spent,  the  furs 
were  worn,  the  homes  remained. 

The  United  States  to-day  is  English  in  its  lan- 
guage, most  of  its  law  and  many  of  its  customs. 
The  Englishmen  who  came  to  the  New  World 
stayed  and  became  Americans,  the  Spaniards  and 
the  French  who  came  had  ever  their  hearts  in 
their  home-lands  and  looked  on  America  as  an 
abiding-place,  only. 

The  English  were  the  first  true  colonists.  To 
this  there  was  but  the  one  exception — the  Spanish 
colony  at  St.  Augustine,  Florida. 

Cabot  brought  the  English  flag  to  American 
shores,  but  it  was  as  an  explorer.  Drake  brought 
the  flag,  likewise,  but  it  was  as  a  privateer.  It 
was  Raleigh  and  other  courtiers  in  the  train  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  who  caused  the  flag  of  England 

11 


12         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

to  fly  over  the  first  English  colony  in  the  New 
World. 

Those  high-hearted  men  of  that  age  of  glory 
sounded  the  first  blast  of  that  great  trumpet-peal 
which  has  rung  for  three  centuries  from  the  shores 
of  America.  Valor,  courtesy,  independence  and 
loyalty  were  the  four  great  requirements  for  a 
courtier  of  Elizabeth.  The  region  settled  under 
the  reign  of  the  Virgin  Queen — and  hence  known 
as  Virginia — saw  the  establishment  in  America  of 
these  four  great  virtues.  To  this  day,  Virginia 
and  the  neighboring  states  possess  a  character  of 
thoir  own. 

Although  the  name  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  is  al- 
ways remembered  in  connction  with  the  early  set- 
tlement of  Virginia,  he  was  not  the  first  to  make  a 
colonizing  effort  on  behalf  of  the  English.  That 
great  fame  belongs  to  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  the 
half-brother  of  Raleigh. 

As  early  as  1578,  Gilbert  started  with  a  fleet 
of  seven  ships  "to  discover  and  plant  Christian 
inhabitants,  in  place  convenient,  upon  those  large 
and  ample  countries  extended  northward  from  the 
cape  of  Florida  .  .  .  not  in  the  actual  possession 
of  any  Christian  prince." 

Though  the  expedition  was  under  the  command 
of  Gilbert,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh — then  but  a  young 
man  and  not  yet  knighted — was  in  command  of  the 
Falcon,  one  of  the  smaller  ships. 

The  charter  which  was  given  to  Gilbert  by 
Queen  Elizabeth,  bestowed  on  him  the  right  to 


PERILOUS  BEGINNINGS  13 

explore  unknown  coasts  and  take  possession  of 
them  in  the  name  of  England.  The  colonists  were 
given  the  same  rights  as  Englishmen,  so  long  as 
they  should  not  disobey  the  laws,  attack  the  Chris- 
tian faith  or  withdraw  from  their  allegiance  to 
Elizabeth. 

Doom  brooded  over  Gilbert.  The  expedition 
met  disaster  at  the  very  outset.  Not  one  of  the 
vessels  ever  reached  the  shores  of  America. 
Ealeigh,  eager  for  the  smiles  of  the  Virgin  Queen 
and  unwilling  to  return  empty-handed,  went  off 
hunting  treasure  on  his  own  account. 

Yet  Gilbert  was  far  from  losing  heart.  On 
June  11,  1583,  he  set  forth  with  five  ships  and  260 
men.  There  were  two  fair-sized  vessels,  the  De- 
light and  the  Raleigh,  two  smaller  ones,  the  Golden 
Hind  and  the  Swallow,  and  a  tiny  frigate,  the 
Squirrel.  Although  one  of  the  ships  was  called 
by  Raleigh's  name,  he  did  not  sail  with  the  expe- 
dition. 

Two  days  after  the  start,  the  Raleigh  deserted 
.the  fleet  and  put  bp^k  to  Plymouth. 

The  Western  Ocean  frowned  upon  the  venture. 
The  fleet  encountered  head  winds  and  constant 
fogs.  The  vessels  became  separated,  and,  before 
they  were  halfway  across  the  Atlantic,  not  one  of 
the  ships  had  any  of  her  consorts  in  sight. 

The  Golden  Hind  ran  into  the  midst  of  huge 
icebergs,  which  her  captain  compared  to  "moun- 
tains of  ice  driven  upon  the  sea,"  a  sight  rare  and 
terrible  to  seamen  in  those  days.  Three  days 


later,  her  captain  sighted  "an  uncomfortable 
coast,  nothing  but  hideous  rocks  and  mountains, 
bare  of  trees  and  void  of  any  green  herb,  whereon 
so  great  a  haze  and  fog  did  hang,  as  neither  might 
we  well  discern  the  land,  nor  take  the  sun's 
height." 

This  desolate  spot  was  undoubtedly  the  east- 
ern shore  of  Newfoundland.  Even  in  the  rare 
days  of  sunshine  which  sometimes  happen  there 
in  summer  time,  this  coast  is  bleak  and  dreary. 

A  few  days  later,  the  Golden  Hind  encountered 
the  Swallow.  The  crew  of  that  vessel  had  been 
adventuring  in  reckless  fashion.  Finding  the  pro- 
visions running  short,  they  had  turned  pirates, 
and  had  plundered  two  French  craft.  Explorers 
were  none  too  particular  in  those  days. 

The  two  ships  sailed  southward  to  the  harbor 
of  St.  John's,  the  point  previously  agreed  upon  for 
meeting.  There  they  found  their  flagship,  the  De- 
light, which  had  been  joined  by  the  Squirrel  the 
day  before. 

Their  troubles  were  only  beginning.  At  St. 
John's,  they  met  with  unexpected  opposition. 
The  fishermen  and  traders  refused  to  allow  the 
fleet  to  enter  the  harbor. 

The  Newfoundland  Banks,  perhaps  the  greatest 
fishing  grounds  in  the  world,  had  first  been  dis- 
covered by  French  fishers.  The  Portuguese  fol- 
lowed and  the  English  craft  came  last.  In  con- 
sequence, these  shoals  in  the  open  sea  were  re- 


PERILOUS  BEGINNINGS  15 

garded  as  common  to  all.  The  shores  adjacent 
were  treated  as  an  international  zone. 

Nor  was  this  the  only  tangle  about  the  New- 
foundland Banks.  Both  Spain  and  Portugal 
claimed  Newfoundland  under  the  verdict  of  the 
Pope,  both  France  and  England  claimed  the  same 
territory  under  the  rights  of  discovery. 

The  English  fishers  had  bullied  the  others  into 
a  sort  of  discontented  admission1  of  their  au- 
thority. The  "admirals"  of  the  fishing  fleets 
were  generally  Englishmen.  When  Gilbert's  four 
ships  arrived,  there  were  thirty-six  fishing  and 
trading  vessels  in  the  harbor,  each  captain  jealous 
of  any  intrusion  on  what  he  deemed  his  right. 
They  were  a  pugnacious  breed  and  quite  prepared 
to  give  fight. 

Gilbert  was  equally  ready  for  battle,  if  neces- 
sary. Secure  in  his  authority  and  with  four  ves- 
sels at  his  back,  he  sent  word  to  each  of  the  fish- 
ing "admirals"  that  he  had  a  commission  from 
Queen  Elizabeth,  and  that  he  would  enter  the  har- 
bor, whether  they  would,  or  no.  The  name  of  the 
Queen  and  the  guns  of  Gilbert's  fleet  were  potent, 
and  he  sailed  in,  unmolested. 

The  captains  and  the  settlers  had  their  rights, 
and  the  holder  of  the  first  colonization  charter  did 
not  ignore  them.  He  went  ashore  and  took  formal 
possession  of  St.  John's  "and  200  leagues  every 
way"  in  the  name  of  the  Queen.  Yet  Gilbert  did 
not  forget  to  look  after  his  own  interests.  He 
declared  himself  Governor  and  announced  that  his 


16         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

title  should  descend  to  his  heirs  in  perpetuity. 
He  gave  all  land-holders  due  and  proper  deeds  to 
their  lands,  but  he  made  them  pay  him  rent.  Thus 
Newfoundland  passed  from  an  international  zone 
to  become  an  English  colony,  of  which  the  Gilbert 
family  were  to  be  the  lords  forever. 

Yet  there  was  mischief  abroad.  Some  of  the 
sailors  of  the  fleet  deserted,  to  join  the  fishing 
craft ;  others  were  tempted  by  the  pay  offered  by 
traders ;  several  hid  in  the  woods  with  the  inten- 
tion of  becoming  settlers  after  Gilbert  should 
have  gone.  The  mining  expert  of  the  expedition 
roused  the  hopes  of  others  by  a  report  that  he 
had  found  signs  of  silver.  Accordingly,  when 
Gilbert  was  ready  to  set  sail  for  more  southern 
shores,  there  were  not  sailors  enough  to  man  all 
the  vessels  and  the  Swallow  was  left  behind. 

Since  exploration  was  now  his  chief  aim,  Gil- 
bert removed  his  flag  from  the  Delight  to  the  tiny 
Squirrel,  which  could  run  into  narrow  creeks  and 
shallow  bays  which  would  be  dangerous  for  larger 
craft.  A  tragic  error  in  seamanship  was  made  in 
removing  the  heavy  guns  from  the  Swallow  to  the 
Squirrel,  thus  overloading  the  decks  of  the  tiny 
frigate. 

They  set  sail  two  weeks  later,  but  soon  met  head 
winds,  dangerous  cross-currents  and  heavy  fog. 
Driving  southward  in  heavy  weather,  suddenly, 
through  the  driving  rain,  the  master  of  the  Golden 
Hind  saw  breakers  ahead. 

He  signaled  instantly  to  the  Delight,  which  was 


PERILOUS  BEGINNINGS  17 

ahead,  and  therefore  nearer  to  the  breakers.  But 
the  officers  on  board  the  larger  craft  must  have 
been  keeping  poor  watch,  for  the  signals  were  not 
noticed  for  several  minutes.  When  they  were 
seen,  the  vessel  veered.  It  was  too  late!  She 
struck  the  shoal  and  was  almost  instantly  bat- 
tered to  pieces. 

Amid  the  hoarse  shouting  of  the  officers  and  the 
shrieking  of  cordage,  the  Golden  Hind  and  the 
Squirrel  came  up  into  the  wind.  With  the  surf 
creaming  over  the  shoal  just  a  cable 's  length  from 
them,  they  fought  their  way  out  to  sea.  The  peril 
was  imminent.  The  lead  showed  only  three 
fathoms  (eighteen  feet)  of  water,  and  "the  seas 
were  going  mightily  and  high." 

Despite  the  gale  and  the  treacherous  shoals,  a 
gallant  search  was  made  for  the  survivors  of  the 
Delight.  None  were  found. 

Fourteen  men  of  the  crew,  indeed,  had  leapt 
into  a  small  boat,  without  food  or  water,  and, 
after  six  days  of  tossing  on  a  heavy  sea,  were  cast 
upon  a  Newfoundland  beach  with  two  of  their 
number  dead.  Evil  fortune  persisted,  however, 
for  the  survivors  were  at  once  made  prisoners  by 
the  French. 

The  wreck  was  a  terrible  loss  to  the  expedi- 

«4ion,  for  the  Delight  had  been  the  largest  ship. 

She  had  carried  the  bulk  of  the  provisions  and 

one  hundred  men.     Menaced  by  scant  supplies  of 

food,  further  exploration  became  impossible.  Two 

•   days  after  the  wreck  of  the  Delight,  Gilbert  was 


18         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

forced  to  head  for  England.  A  strange  thing 
happened  I 

At  the  very  instant  that  the  vessels  turned  their 
prows  to  the  eastward,  the  crews  saw  "a  very 
lion,  to  our  seeming,  in  shape,  hair  and  color, 
not  swimming  after  the  manner  of  a  beast  by  mov- 
ing of  his  feet,  but  rather  sliding  upon  the  water 
with  his  whole  body  in  sight.  .  .  .  Thus  he  passed 
along,  turning  his  head  to  and  fro,  yawning  and 
gaping  wide,  with  ugly  demonstration  of  long 
teeth  and  glaring  eyes.  And,  to  bid  us  farewell, 
he  sent  forth  a  horrible  voice,  roaring  and  bellow- 
ing as  doeth  a  lion." 

This  was  the  first  time  that  any  English  sail- 
ors had  seen  a  sea-lion,  and  many  of  them  were 
frightened.  They  declared  it  to  be  an  evil  omen. 
Gilbert,  to  give  his  men  courage,  declared  that 
it  was  a  sign  of  good. 

That  very  night,  however,  a  single  "corpse- 
candle"  was  seen  shining  on  the  mast  of  the 
Squirrel,  a  sign  which  sailor  superstition  declares 
to  be  a  sure  prognostication  of  coming  harm. 

The  captain  of  the  Golden  Hind  begged  Gilbert 
to  come  on  board  the  larger  vessel,  as  the  Squir- 
rel was  in  constant  danger  of  being  swamped  by 
the  heavy  seas.  But  the  gallant  leader  answered : 

"I  will  not  forsake  my  little  company,  going 
homeward,  with  whom  I  have  passed  so  many 
storms  and  perils." 

Tempest  followed  upon  tempest.  Half-a-dozen 
times  the  cry  rose  on  board  the  Golden  Hind  that 


PERILOUS  BEGINNINGS  19 

the  Squirrel  was  gone.  Yet,  an  instant  later,  the 
cockle-shell  of  a  craft  would  be  seen  rising  on  the 
crest  of  a  wave,  to  be  hidden  a  second  afterwards 
in  the  trough. 

North  of  the  Azores,  on  September  9,  the  cap- 
tain of  the  Golden  Hind  became  convinced  that 
the  tiny  frigate  could  not  stay  afloat  much  longer. 
At  great  personal  risk,  he  ran  his  ship  close 
enough  to  the  Squirrel  for  his  voice  to  be  heard. 
Across  the  roar  of  the  wind  and  the  crashing  of 
the  waves,  he  bellowed  his  pleadings  to  Gilbert 
that  he  should  transfer  to  the  larger  craft. 

But  the  commander  shouted  cheerily : 

"We  are  as  near  to  Heaven  by  the  sea  as  by 
land!" 

They  were  his  last  recorded  words.  A  few 
hours  later,  the  watch  on  the  forecastle  of  the 
Golden  Hind  saw  the  lights  of  the  Squirrel  dis- 
appear. "And,  in  that  moment,"  wrote  Captain 
Hayes,  "the  frigate  was  devoured  and  swallowed 
up  of  the  sea." 

So  perished  that  valorous  gentleman,  Sir 
Humphrey  Gilbert,  the  first  to  try  the  planting 
of  an  English  colony  upon  American  shores. 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  Gilbert 's  half-brother,  took 
up  the  adventure.  Being  high  in  the  favor  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  the  young  courtier  had  no  dif- 
ficulty in  securing  Gilbert's  charter  for  himself. 
Adrian  Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey's  heir,  was  as- 
sociated with  Raleigh,  and  Richard  Hakluyt  was 
a  friend  of  both. 


20         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Although  Hakluyt  was  not  a  traveler,  but  a 
writer  his  influence  on  American  exploration 
was  very  great.  He  was  a  lawyer  and  a  clergy- 
man, with  a  passion  for  geography  and  a  quick 
perception  of  trade  opportunities.  His  famous 
book,  entitled  "Divers  Voyages,"  which  was 
published  in  1582,  had  been  the  stimulus  which 
caused  Gilbert  to  set  out  on  his  fatal  expedition 
of  1583,  by  which  Newfoundland  became  an  Eng- 
lish colony.  It  was  Hakluyt,  also,  who  held  Ra- 
leigh firm  to  his  purpose  of  colonizing  America. 

An  able  geographer,  Hakluyt  was  able  to  put 
his  finger  on  the  principal  cause  for  Gilbert's 
failure.  The  expedition  had  landed  too  far  to 
the  north.  He  urged  Raleigh  to  send  a  small  sur- 
vey party  before  risking  a  large  amount  of  money 
and  many  lives.  In  April,  1584,  two  small  ships 
were  sent  by  Raleigh  and  Adrian  Gilbert  to  ex- 
plore the  American  coast,  further  to  the  south. 
These  ships  were  under  the  command  of  Captains 
Amadas  and  Barlowe.  To  them  is  due  the  fame 
of  the  discovery  of  Virginia,  and  the  first  alliance 
between  England  and  the  North  American  In- 
dians. 

They  made  the  land  of  America  at  the  south  of 
the  long  sand-spit  which  encloses  Pamlico  Sound 
and  sailed  along  it  for  120  miles.  At  last  they 
found  an  opening,  which  may  well  have  been 
Okracoke  Inlet. 

On  the  shoals  outside  this  inlet,  they  anchored 
their  ships.  A  very  brief  survey  showed  that  the 


PERILOUS  BEGINNINGS  21 

sand-spit  was  useless  for  colonization.  They 
crossed  Pamlico  Sound  in  boats,  wondering  at  its 
shallowness  for  so  wide  a  stretch  of  water  and 
being  astonished  at  the  number  of  fish.  They 
reached  the  mainland  on  July  13,  1584,  and  took 
possession  of  the  country  in  the  Queen's  name. 

After  they  had  been  there  three  days,  some  In- 
dians approached.  At  first  they  were  timid,  but, 
at  last,  one  was  venturesome  enough  to  accom- 
pany the  captains  back  to  the  ship,  in  his  canoe. 
Amadas  and  Barlowe  presented  him  with  cloth- 
ing and  other  gifts.  In  token  of  gratitude,  the 
Indian  went  fishing,  and,  next  day,  brought  back 
a  boat-load  of  fish.  The  day  following,  many 
more  canoes  arrived,  and  among  the  leaders  of 
the  Indians  was  Granganimeo,  brother  to  Win- 
gina,  the  head  chief  of  the  tribe.  Forty  braves 
accompanied  him.  The  captains  were  friendly 
and  gifts  were  exchanged. 

A  curious  example  of  the  mistakes  which  may 
occur  when  people  know  nothing  of  each  other's 
language  occurred  at  this  time.  Several  of  the 
Indians  exclaimed  to  the  strangers, 

' '  Win-gan-dacoa ! ' ' 

The  English  captains,  who  had  tried  to  ask  the 
Indians — by  signs — what  was  the  name  of  this 
country  that  they  had  found,  supposed  this  to  be 
the  Indian  name  of  the  land.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  real  meaning  of  the  phrase  was : 

"What  fine  clothes  you  wear!" 

Finding  the  redskins  so  friendly,  Amadas  and 


22         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Barlowe  commenced  trading,  and  explored  the 
greater  part  of  Pamlico  Sound,  north  to  Roanoke 
Island  and  even  beyond.  So  ably  did  these  two 
captains  arrange  matters  with  the  Indians  that 
they  were  able  to  persuade  two  of  them,  Manteo 
and  Wanchese,  to  accompany  them  back  to  Eng- 
land. These  two  Indians  were  to  have  a  potent 
effect  on  the  colonization  that  was  to  follow  later. 
After  a  stay  of  two  months,  Amadas  and  Barlowe 
set  sail  and  arrived  in  England  without  misad- 
venture. 

Queen  Elizabeth  was  more  than  delighted  with 
this  report,  which  added  a  large  and  fertile  coun- 
try to  her  realm.  Realizing  that  the  discovery  was 
due  to  the  persistence  of  Raleigh,  she  knighted 
him. 

Moreover,  charmed  with  Barlowe 's  phrase  that 
he  had  discovered  "a  virgin  land  for  a  virgin 
queen,"  she  insisted  that  the  new  territory 
should  not  be  called  "Wingandacoa,"  as  the  In- 
dians were  supposed  to  have  named  it,  but  "Vir- 
ginia," in  her  honor. 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh  thus  became  "Governor  of 
Virginia. ' '  As  such,  he  was  fevered  with  the  de- 
sire to  colonize  so  promising  and  fertile  a  ter- 
ritory, not  only  for  his  own  sake,  but  also  to 
please  the  queen. 

There  are  two  sides  to  colonization.  Those 
who  go  to  a  new  place  must  leave  the  old.  Every 
family  that  emigrates  is  so  much  strength  lost  to 


A   MERCHANT   OF   THE   TIME    OF   QUEEN    ELIZABETH 

It  was  the  merchant  adventurers  of  England,  who  fitted  out  the  expeditions  for 
trade  and  exploration  to  find  the  hidden  wealth  of  the  New  Continent,  who  were 
the  real  founders  of  the  settlements  of  the  New  World. 


SIR    WALTER    RALEIGH 

It  was  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  other  courtiers  in  the  train  of  Queen  Elizabeth  who 
I  the  flag  of  England  to  fly  over  the  first  English  Colonies  in  the  New  World. 


Copyright  1921  by  Twenty-five  Broadway  Corp. 


SEBASTIAN   CABOT    SETTING    OUT   FROM    ENGLAND   TO  CROSS   THE   ATLANTIC 

Cabot  was  one  of  the  first  English  explorers  of  the  coast  line  whose  discoveries  enabled 
the  later  expeditions  to  found  settlements  and  plant  colonies.  From  a  painting 
by  Ezra  Winter  in  the  Cunard  Building,  New  York  City. 


JOHN  WHITE'S  MAP  OF  VIRGINIA 

This  map  made  by  John  White,  Governor  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  second  colony 
on  Roanoke  Island,  is  the  first  known  map  of  the  Virginia  coast.  The  original 
made  in  1585,  is  now  in  the  British  Museum. 


PERILOUS  BEGINNINGS  23 

the  home-land.  Yet  Elizabeth  was  willing  to  let 
her  people  go. 

The  reason  was  a  queer  one.  It  lay  in  the  one 
word — Sheep ! 

During  the  fourteenth  century,  the  wool  trade 
of  England  had  grown  enormous.  One  of  the 
causes  of  this  was  the  closing  of  the  trade  routes 
to  the  Orient.  English  wool  rose  to  a  high  price. 

The  lords  and  owners  of  vast  estates  found 
that  they  could  make  more  money  by  rais- 
ing sheep  than  by  renting  their  land  to  tenant 
farmers. 

This  caused  enormous  suffering.  A  stretch 
of  land  large  enough  to  pasture  a  good-sized  flock 
of  sheep  would  provide  employment  only  for  one 
or  two  shepherds,  whereas,  if  it  were  used  for 
growing  grain,  it  would  support  fifteen  or  twenty 
families. 

The  sheep  industry,  therefore,  threw  thousands 
of  farmers  out  of  work,  since  the  lords  would  no 
longer  rent  the  land  to  them.  As  early  as  1516, 
Sir  Thomas  More  described  the  situation  in  the 
following  striking  words: 

1 '  Your  sheep,  that  were  wont  to  be  so  meek  and 
tame  .  .  .  consume,  destroy  and  devour  whole 
fields,  houses  and  cities.  .  .  .  Noblemen  and  gen- 
tlemen, yea,  and  certain  abbots  .  .  .  leave  no 
ground  for  tillage.  They  enclose  all  into  pastures. 
They  throw  down  houses,  they  pluck  down  towns 
and  leave  nothing  standing  but  only  the  church 
to  be  made  a  sheep-house.  .  .  .  Those  who  for- 


merry  lived  on  the  land  are  left  starving  and 
homeless.  And,  where  many  laborers  had  existed 
by  field  labor,  only  a  single  shepherd  or  herdsman 
is  occupied." 

When  Vasco  da  Gama  opened  the  route  to  the 
Orient  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  the  traffic  in 
silks  and  cottons  was  resumed.  The  demand  for 
wool  decreased.  England  had  an  overproduction 
of  wool.  Prices  dropped.  During  Elizabeth's 
reign,  the  finding  of  foreign  markets  for  the  wool 
had  become  a  difficult  problem. 

This  worked  in  two  ways  for  the  colonization 
of  America.  It  left  farmers  and  farm  laborers 
ready  for  emigration  and  it  opened  the  possibility 
that  a  new  colony  might  provide  an  outlet  for 
English  wool. 

Hakluyt,  whose  word  had  power,  in  his  "  Dis- 
course on  Western  Planting, ' '  wrote : 

"Now,  if  Her  Majesty  take  these  western  dis- 
coveries in  hand,  and  plant  there,  it  is  like  that, 
in  a  short  time,  we  shall  vente  (sell)  as  great  a 
mass  of  cloth  in  those  parts  as  ever  we  did  in 
the  Netherlands,  and  in  time,  as  much  more." 

This  discourse  of  Hakluyt 's  was  sent  to  Raleigh 
a  month  before  the  return  of  Amadas  and  Bar- 
lowe.  It  was  duly  read  by  the  Queen.  When  the 
captains  returned  with  their  glowing  account  of 
"Virginia,"  the  royal  virgin  was  ready  to  support 
and  to  aid  Raleigh  in  his  projects.  A  new  hour 
had  struck  for  America. 


CHAPTER  H 

THE  TBAQEDY  OF  EOANOKE 

The  planting  of  Virginia  was  begun  with  royal 
acclaim.  It  was  endorsed  by  Queen  Elizabeth  and 
was  partly  financed  out  of  the  Treasury.  This 
appears  in  an  official  letter  to  Ralph  Lane,  who 
was  ordered  to  take  charge  of  the  colonists  on 
1  *  the  Voyage  to  Virginia,  for  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
at  Her  Majesty's  commandment." 

The  Lane  colonists  sailed  in  April,  1585,  under 
a  strong  convoy,  with  Sir  Richard  Grenville  as 
fleet  commander.  They  entered  Pamlico  Sound 
two  months  later  and  the  friendly  Indians  at  once 
boarded  the  ships. 

One  of  the  visitors  stole  a  silver  cup,  and  Gren- 
ville set  fire  to  the  standing  corn  "to  teach  the 
savages  a  lesson."  This  foolish  action  taught 
the  redskins  a  lesson,  but  a  most  unhappy  one ;  it 
taught  them  to  look  on  the  English  as  their 
enemies.  Grenville 's  silver  cup  was  to  cost  Eng- 
land hundreds  of  lives. 

After  some  weeks  spent  in  exploring  the  Sound, 
Lane  and  the  107  colonists  were  set  ashore  on 
Roanoke  Island.  Provisions  for  eight  months 
were  left.  Manteo  and  Wanchese,  the  two  In- 

25 


26         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

dians  who  had  visited  England,  remained  with 
Lane  as  interpreters.  Of  these  two,  Manteo 
remained  faithful  to  his  English  friends,  while 
Wanchese  returned  to  his  own  people  and  became 
a  trouble-maker. 

Raleigh  had  shown  great  wisdom  in  choosing 
Lane  as  a  leader.  In  spite  of  Grenville's  ill- 
judged  act,  the  head  of  the  Eoanoke  colony  man- 
aged to  keep  the  peace.  This  was  due  to  the  in- 
fluence of  three  of  the  natives:  Granganimeo, 
brother  of  Chief  Wingina  (later  called  Pemisa- 
pan) ;  Ensenore,  father  of  Wingina  and  the  head 
chief  of  a  group  of  tribes ;  and  Manteo,  the  inter- 
preter. Unhappily  for  the  colonists,  Granganimeo 
died  soon  after  the  landing. 

Belying  mainly  on  the  friendship  of  the  power- 
ful Chief  Ensenore  to  protect  the  Eoanoke  Island 
base,  Lane  explored  the  country  in  every  direc- 
tion. He  concluded  that  Eoanoke  was  ill-suited 
for  a  permanent  settlement  and  urged  a  speedy 
removal  to  Chesapeake  Bay.  Later  events  were 
to  prove  how  fatally  right  were  his  fears. 

During  his  absence,  the  colonists  had  several 
sharp  skirmishes  with  Indians  of  neighboring 
tribes,  but  flint-pointed  arrows  struck  harmlessly 
upon  armor,  and  even  the  dreaded  tomahawk  was 
unavailing  on  a  steel  helmet.  False  reports  of 
Lane's  death  reached  the  ears  of  Chief  Wingina 
or  Pemisapan,  and  Wanchese  was  actually  en- 
gaged on  the  plans  for  a  massacre  when  Lane 
returned,  safe  and  sound. 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ROANOKE     27 

The  situation  began  to  grow  desperate.  The 
eight  months'  provisions  were  exhausted.  The 
end  of  March  arrived,  but  Grenville  and  his  ships 
did  not.  With  great  diplomacy,  Lane  used  his 
influence  with  Chief  Ensenore,  the  aged  father  of 
Pemisapan,  to  conclude  a  treaty  with  the  Indians. 
Food  was  to  be  provided  until  the  arrival  of  the 
relief  expedition,  when  all  was  to  be  repaid.  Had 
this  treaty  been  carried  out,  all  would  have  been 
well,  but  Chief  Ensenore  died,  less  than  a  week 
after  it  was  made. 

Ensenore 's  death  left  the  English  without  a 
single  voice  in  their  favor  in  the  councils  of  the 
Indians.  Hostility  became  open.  Pemisapan  for- 
bade any  of  his  people  to  sell  food  to  the  colo- 
nists. April  passed  without  any  sign  of  Grenville 
and  hunger  became  acute  in  the  English  camp. 

Lane  reduced  his  force  on  Roanoke  to  the  small- 
est number  of  men  that  could  hold  it  and  sent  the 
rest  of  the  colonists  to  the  wooded  sand-spit  on 
the  ocean  side  of  Pamlico  Sound,  on  an  island 
called  Hatorask  (Hatteras).  The  island  was 
wider  and  more  fertile  in  Lane's  time  than  it  is 
now,  but  it  is  still  famous  for  its  wild  grapes,  its 
fish,  turtles,  crabs  and  shell-fish.  The  colonists 
waited  and  watched  there  all  the  month  of  May, 
but  the  relief  ships  did  not  arrive. 

Suddenly,  on  June  1,  there  appeared  off  the 
coast  a  superb  fleet  of  twenty-three  vessels,  under 
the  command  of  Sir  Francis  Drake. 

Shortly  after  Grenville  and  Lane  had  left  Eng- 


28         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

land,  the  year  before,  war  had  been  declared  with 
Spain.  Drake  had  promptly  set  off  to  harry  the 
West  Indies.  Before  returning  to  England,  well 
stored  with  plunder  and  provisions,  it  occurred 
to  the  famous  commander  to  anchor  off  Virginia 
and  to  find  out  whether  the  English  colonists 
on  Roanoke  Island  were  in  need. 

Learning  that  Grenville  had  not  arrived  and 
that  Lane's  men  were  starving,  Drake  agreed  to 
leave  a  ship  and  an  ample  supply  of  provisions. 
But,  before  this  ship  could  enter  the  haven,  a  ter- 
rible storm  arose  and  she  was  blown  out  to  sea. 

Drake  thereupon  offered  another  vessel,  but  he 
was  too  prudent  a  seaman  to  take  the  responsi- 
bility of  bringing  her  through  the  terribly  nar- 
row and  tide-ripped  inlets  into  the  Sound.  She 
must  lie  in  the  open  roadstead,  near  the  Diamond 
Shoals,  known  as  "the  graveyard  of  the  sea,'*  or 
else  the  colonists  must  pilot  the  vessel  in  them- 
selves. 

Lane  took  counsel  with  the  colonists.  Gren- 
ville had  not  come  and  the  war  with  Spain  might 
prevent  any  supplies  reaching  them  at  all.  As  for 
the  relief  ship,  if  the  great  Drake  did  not  dare  to 
navigate  the  strait,  who  were  they,  to  try?  Their 
friends  Granganimeo  and  Ensenore  were  dead. 
Pemisapan  was  known  to  be  hostile.  Further, 
every  Englishman  might  be  needed  in  the  defense 
of  the  home-land.  The  colonists  decided  to  ask 
Drake  to  take  them  aboard  the  vessels  of  his  fleet, 
and  sailed  for  home. 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ROANOKE     29 

So  ended  the  first  colonization  of  " Virginia." 

Lane's  judgment  was  sound,  but  his  fear  that 
Raleigh  would  not  be  able  to  aid  them  was  in  er- 
ror. A  supply  ship  sent  at  Sir  Walter's  expense 
reached  Hatorask  a  few  days  after  the  colonists 
had  left  on  Drake's  fleet.  The  captain  of  this 
vessel  spent  a  couple  of  weeks  looking  for  the  set- 
tlers. Not  finding  any  white  man  on  Roanoke 
Island  or  in  the  vicinity,  he  returned  to  England. 

Fifteen  days  after  the  homeward  departure  of 
Raleigh 's  supply  ship,  Grenville  appeared  at  Hat- 
orask with  three  vessels.  Failing  to  find  Ra- 
leigh's ship,  he  sent  armed  boats  to  Roanoke 
Island.  The  places  where  the  colonists  had  lived 
were  discovered  abandoned  and  desolate. 

Determining,  at  least,  to  hold  possession  for 
England  and  knowing  nothing  of  Pemisapan  's  hos- 
tility, Grenville  left  fifteen  of  his  sturdiest  men 
with  instructions  to  hold  the  island  at  all  haz- 
ards. This  settlement  was  made  early  in  Au- 
gust, 1586.  Abundant  ammunition  was  landed, 
the  fort  was  strengthened  and  enough  provisions 
were  put  ashore  to  last  for  more  than  two  years. 

The  year  following,  a  rescue  expedition  learned 
the  fate  of  these  fifteen  men.  While  four  of  them 
were  away,  gathering  oysters,  the  Indians  ap- 
peared under  the  leadership  of  Pemisapan,  and 
Wanchese  falsely  offered  friendship.  Since  Lane 
had  left  no  word  of  warning  and  Wanchese  spoke 
in  English,  the  little  garrison  agreed  to  a  parley. 

Two  of  the  leaders  went  out  of  the  fort  to  meet 


30         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

the  Indians.  The  savages  treacherously  slew  one 
and  wounded  the  other.  Simultaneously  a  war- 
party  set  fire  to  the  fort. 

Driven  into  the  open,  the  English  fought  their 
way  to  the  shore,  losing  two  more  of  their  num- 
ber. Only  eight  men  reached  the  boat.  Rowing 
to  the  oyster  creek,  they  rescued  their  comrades 
and  crossed  the  Sound  "to  an  island  to  the  right 
of  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  of  Hatorask." 
They  were  never  heard  of  more. 

Thus  ended,  in  blood,  the  second  English  set- 
tlement of  "Virginia." 

Meanwhile,  Drake  and  Lane  had  reached  Eng- 
land, and  Raleigh  and  Grenville  learned  why 
Roanoke  had  been  abandoned.  A  gallant  little 
band  of  fifteen  Englishmen  remained  alone  on 
that  distant  shore.  With  the  Spanish  War  rag- 
ing, neither  Grenville,  Lane  nor  Raleigh  could  be 
spared.  In  order  to  support  these  fifteen  ma- 
rooned men  Raleigh  granted  to  "John  White  and 
others"  certain  patents  for  planting  a  colony  in 
Virginia.  White 's  title  was  ' '  Governor  of  the  City 
of  Raleigh  in  Virginia, '  *  and  his  patent  was  dated 
January  7,  1587. 

White  had  been  the  map-maker  of  the  Lane  ex- 
pedition, and  had  shown  himself  to  be  a  natural 
leader.  On  several  occasions  he  had  been  put  in 
charge  of  exploring  parties.  Lane  chose  him  for 
his  successor,  giving  him  exact  instructions  as 
to  the  plans  to  be  carried  out. 

He  was  to  sail  as  soon  as  possible  with  150  colo- 


CAPTAIN   JOHN    SMITH 


Though  Smith's  name  is  chiefly  associated  with  the  Virginia  colonies  he  was  one  of 
the  most  important  of  the  early  explorers.  He  thoroughly  explored  what  was  then 
known  as  North  Virginia  and  gave  the  name  of  New  England  to  the  territory,  but 
his  popular  fame,  largely  through  the  romantic  Pocahontas  legend,  is  more  intimately 
associated  with  the  scene  of  his  earliest  exploits,  the  James  River  Colony.  His 
work  for  posterity,  however,  was  not  romantic,  for  his  sound  common  sense,  his 
steadfast  endeavor  and  forceful  yet  diplomatic  handling  of  current  affairs  left  an 
enduring  example. 


_,  ^ 


'&> 


THE  FLEET  OF  SIR  FRANCIS  DRAKE  LYING  OFF  THE  COAST  OF  FLORIDA 

Shortly  after  the  first  colonial  venture  under  Lane  and  Grenville  left  England,  war 
was  declared  with  Spain.  Sir  Francis  Drake  was  sent  to  harry  the  Spanish  Main 
and  the  West  Indies.  On  his  return  to  England  he  decided  to  visit  the  Virginia 
colony  and  see  if  all  was  well.  He  raided  St.  Augustine  as  is  here  shown  in  an  old 
map  on  his  way  north  from  the  West  Indies. 


INDIANS   COOKING   FISH 

The  English  colonists  were  much  amazed  at  the  great  variety  of  fish  which  they 
found  in  the  shallow  waters  of  the  Sounds  along  the  Virginia  coast.  The  Indians 
were  expert  fishermen  and  made  great  use  of  fish  for  food,  showing  the  colonists  how 
to  catch  and  prepare  them  for  the  table.  This  picture  is  one  of  the  many  drawings 
by  Governor  John  White  of  the  Second  Colony,  which  are  now  preserved  in  the 
British  Museum. 


^t3»4&Ifs 

r*^*O&^&  ?  vV  >• 

*$W^?!£-.&&\& ; 


^— -"U-T^T      X.J 

*-  •  »tf^^^^ 

.^^W^:»^:^ 

S  ir*2  •  1     >    J^V^  -M^ 

:  -/jkhW%> 

_^---V«ar^i4A      .      ,..'--*  -».    .'_  . 


lllr,  !  N  LA  N 


SEA 


SMITH  S   MAP   OF   VIRGINIA 

When  this  map  was  made  the  colony  was  commonly  spoken  of  as  the  Paradise  of 
Virginia.     The  early  map 
make  the  vis' 

little  suggestion  ot  the  low  lying  flat  country  along  the  coast,  rather  a  pleasant  sug- 
stion  of  hills  and  forests.     The  Colonists  of  the  several  early  ventures  found  the 
shore  regions  to  be  gloomy,  pest-ridden,  tide-water  swamps.  They  never  really  reached 
tie  wooded  and  hilly  regions  away  from  the  coast. 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ROANOKE     31 

nists — men,  women  and  children — and  to  settle  at 
Chesapeake  Bay,  first  picking  up  the  fifteen  men 
who  had  been  left  by  Grenville  at  Roanoke  Island. 
By  that  means,  the  new  colony  would  escape  the 
hostility  of  Pemisapan,  and  could  make  an  al- 
liance with  the  tribes  in  the  new  settlement. 

During  war-time,  however,  it  was  easier  to  or- 
der an  immediate  sailing  than  it  was  to  accom- 
plish it.  Every  ship-captain  was  needed  for  the 
defense  of  the  English  coast.  The  Lion,  a  Fly- 
Boat,  and  a  pinnace  were  found  at  last,  but  Ra- 
leigh was  compelled — much  against  his  will — to 
give  the  command  of  the  little  fleet  to  Fernandino, 
a  renegade  Spaniard.  The  three  ships  sailed  from 
Plymouth  on  May  8,  1587. 

From  the  very  start,  Fernandino 's  treachery 
showed  itself.  On  May  16,  to  quote  the  words  of 
White,  "  Fernandino  lewdly  forsook  our  Fly-Boat, 
leaving  her  distressed  in  the  Bay  of  Portugal." 
The  Lion  and  the  pinnace  continued. 

They  touched  at  Dominica  on  June  19  and  spent 
three  weeks  in  the  West  Indies,  supposedly  to  se- 
cure food  supplies,  young  fruit  trees  and  seeds  for 
planting,  and  cattle  for  the  beginning  of  herds. 
Fernandino  continuously  prevented  White  from 
getting  these,  declaring  that  he  had  a  friend  in 
Hispaniola  who  could  provide  all.  But,  when  the 
ships  arrived  off  Hispaniola,  Fernandino  found 
an  excuse  for  not  landing  and  turned  northwards, 
thus  denying  to  the  expedition  the  supplies  which 
Raleigh  had  advised  them  to  take. 


32         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

They  reached  Hatorask  on  July  22.  Fernan- 
dino  refused  to  try  and  enter  the  narrow  chan- 
nel with  the  Lion.  The  pinnace  was  sent  into 
Pamlico  Sound  to  take  the  colonists  ashore,  with 
secret  orders  not  to  bring  back  any  of  its  passen- 
gers, no  matter  what  conditions  might  be  discov- 
ered at  Roauoke. 

They  were  bad  enough !  White  found  no  signs 
of  life,  nothing  but  the  skeleton  of  the  white  man 
who  had  been  slain  by  treachery  when  in  a  parley 
with  Pemisapan  and  Wanchese. 

Three  days  later — to  the  great  delight  of  the 
colonists  and  the  discomfiture  of  Fernandino — the 
Fly-Boat  arrived,  having  made  her  way  across 
the  ocean,  alone.  White  prepared  to  move  to 
Chesapeake  Bay,  according  to  the  orders  given 
him  by  Raleigh  and  Lane.  Them  Fernandino 
openly  showed  his  hatred  of  the  English.  He 
flatly  refused  to  proceed  on  the  voyage  and  sailed 
away,  leaving  the  colonists — now  reduced  to  99 
whites  and  2  friendly  Indians — on  ill-fated  Roa- 
noke  Island. 

Shortly  after  landing,  Manteo,  who  had  been 
true  to  the  English  throughout,  was  baptized  a 
Christian.  Then,  following  instructions  contained 
in  sealed  orders,  which  White  opened  upon  land- 
ing, the  faithful  Indian  was  officially  proclaimed 
as  "Lord  of  Roanoke." 

A  few  days  later,  on  August  18,  Eleanor  Dare, 
daughter  of  Governor  White  and  wife  of  Assistant 
Governor  Dare,  gave  birth  to  a  daughter.  Be- 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ROANOKE     33 

cause  she  was  the  first  white  child  born  in  Vir- 
ginia, the  baby  was  christened  "Virginia,"  the 
Sunday  following. 

Virginia  Dare  was  not  the  first  white  child  born 
in  North  America,  as  is  often  stated,  nor  yet  the 
first  Christian.  That  honor  belongs  to  Snorri 
Thorfinnsson,  the  son  of  Gudrid  the  Fair.  Nor 
was  she  the  first  white  girl  born  in  North  America, 
for  the  infant  daughter  of  Marguerite  Roberval 
preceded  her.  But  she  was  unquestionably  the 
first  white  girl  born  in  the  present  territory  of  the 
United  States. 

Since  Fernandino  had  refused  to  carry  out 
the  orders  he  had  received,  it  was  imperative  to 
send  word  back  to  England  to  tell  that  the  colon- 
ists were  at  Roanoke,  not  at  Chesapeake  Bay,  and 
to  ensure  the  sending  of  supplies. 

On  the  urgent  desire  of  every  settler,  Governor 
White  agreed  to  go,  though  he  protested  bitterly. 

White  boarded  the  Fly-Boat  on  August  27.  At 
the  very  moment  of  weighing  anchor,  a  terrible 
accident  occurred.  One  of  the  bars  of  the  capstan 
broke.  The  sudden  jar,  added  to  the  weight  of 
the  anchor,  whirled  the  capstan  round  with  such 
force  that  the  other  bars  spun  like  gigantic  flails, 
seriously  injuring  several  men  of  the  already 
scanty  crew.  A  second  attempt,  with  fewer  men, 
was  little  less  disastrous.  There  were  not  enough 
hands,  now,  to  raise  the  anchor.  The  Fly-Boat  set 
out  to  sea  with  only  five  uninjured  men  on  board 
and  without  an  anchor. 


34    THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Two  of  the  sailors  died  at  sea  from  their  in- 
juries. Three  others  were  not  able  to  leave  their 
bunks  during  the  entire  voyage.  The  Fly-Boat 
encountered  a  heavy  gale,  dead  against  her,  and 
the  short-handed  crew  could  do  but  little.  She 
was  driven  back.  Provisions?  and  fresh  water 
grew  scarce.  Scurvy  broke  out,  greatly  weaken- 
ing the  remaining  men. 

After  thirty  days'  tossing,  the  Fly-Boat  reached 
the  west  coast  of  Ireland.  There  she  found  her- 
self in  a  desperate  position,  for  she  had  no  anchor. 
She  entered  the  small  harbor  of  Dingen  and  sailed 
to  and  fro  in  the  narrow  space,  signaling  franti- 
cally for  help.  A  ship  sent  off  a  skiff  and  learned 
of  the  Fly-Boat's  need.  A  spare  anchor  was 
hastily  sent  aboard,  and  the  much-mauled  vessel 
rode  at  last  at  rest. 

But  the  haven  came  too  late  for  some.  Three 
men  died  aboard  the  Fly-Boat  as  she  lay  in  har- 
bor; three  more  were  carried  ashore,  too  ill  to 
move.  It  was  November  8  before  Governor  White 
arrived  at  Southampton,  having  taken  passage  on 
a  ship  from  Dingen. 

The  following  spring,  all  England  was  ringing 
with  preparations  to  fight  the  Spanish  Armada. 
Every  ship-yard  was  busy.  Every  boat  that  could 
float  was  being  patched  up.  There  were  no  ships 
to  be  spared  for  the  relief  of  the  colonists  of  Roa- 
noke  Island.  Yet  Raleigh's  influence  was  so 
powerful  that  he  mustered  a  small  fleet  and  put 
it  in  charge  of  Grenville.  It  was  not  allowed  to 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ROANOKE     35 

sail.  The  Lord  High  Admiral  protested,  declaring 
he  needed  every  ship  and  every  man  he  could  get, 
whereupon  the  relief -vessels  were  seized  for  the 
navy. 

Raleigh  had  a  determined  streak  in  him,  and 
Governor  White  did  not  miss  a  single  day  in 
pleading  the  cause  of  the  colonists.  He  spoke 
bluntly  enough  to  the  Queen  about  it,  and  Eliza- 
beth, who  did  not  object  to  plain  speaking,  prom- 
ised her  aid.  Two  small  vessels  were  procured 
and  sailed  from  England  on  April  22, 1588,  under 
command  of  White.  But  the  heavy  hand  of  ill- 
fortune  dogged  the  steps  of  the  Roanoke  rescuers. 
Off  Madeira  they  encountered  some  Spanish  men- 
o'-war  and  were  so  severely  handled  as  to  be 
lucky  to  return,  with  their  sails  full  of  shot-holes 
and  several  of  the  sailors  dead. 

It  was  the  last  chance  that  year.  The  Armada 
was  gathering. 

The  year  1589  brought  no  relief  to  Roanoke. 
The  Armada  had  been  repelled  but  it  was  far  from 
being  a  final  victory.  England  was  fighting  for 
her  life  and  she  knew  it.  Elizabeth  had  no  ships 
to  spare  for  a  handful  of  colonists.  They  must 
take  their  chance. 

Raleigh  would  not  give  up.  White  haunted  the 
door  of  every  man  who  might  possibly  give  help. 
In  desperation  another  patent  was  given  out,  this 
time  to  a  company  of  London  merchants,  among 
them  Thomas  Smythe.  Hakluyt  was  a  member  of 
the  company.  Money  did  not  succeed,  either. 


36         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

The  ships  were  not  to  be  had.  Winter  came  again, 
with  no  relief  for  Roanoke. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1590,  Raleigh  renewed 
his  exertions.  Three  vessels,  the  Hopewell,  the 
John  Evangelist  and  the  Little  John,  belonging  to 
a  London  merchant,  were  about  to  start  to  the 
West  Indies  on  a  privateering  venture.  Raleigh 
secured  the  Queen's  consent  to  compel  these  ships 
to  take  colonists  and  supplies  to  Virginia,  and 
sent  a  courier  to  White  with  the  message. 

The  order  was  given  too  late.  It  arrived  in 
Plymouth  only  the  day  before  sailing.  As  it 
would  take  some  time  to  gather  the  colonists,  the 
owner  and  captains  refused  to  honor  White's  or- 
der. They  said,  curtly,  that  they  would  take  him 
and  his  sea-chest  aboard  and  nothing  more. 

There  were  no  telegraphs  in  those  days.  There 
was  no  time  for  White  to  communicate  with  Ra- 
leigh, who  was  in  London,  no  means  to  reach  the 
Queen.  If  he  wished  to  see  Virginia  again,  this 
seemed  his  only  chance.  Desperate  and  heartsick, 
he  boarded  one  of  the  ships,  and  sailed  away. 

The  captains,  however,  had  their  orders.  Pri- 
vateering was  the  work  they  were  paid  to  do,  and, 
besides,  each  of  them  had  a  share  in  the  venture. 
The  Roanoke  question  might  wait  till  afterwards. 
As  White  wrote,  in  agony  of  spirit :  '  *  The  cap- 
tains regarded  very  little  the  good  of  their  coun- 
trymen in  Virginia  .  .  .  and  wholly  disposed 
themselves  to  seek  after  purchase  and  spoils, 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ROANOKE     37 

spending  so  much  time  thereon,  that  summer  was 
spent  before  we  arrived  at  Virginia.'* 

It  was  not  until  five  months  later,  on  August 
15,  that  they  dropped  anchor  off  Hatorask.  Next 
day  they  launched  two  small  boats  to  enter  the 
inlet,  but  the  sea  was  rough  and  the  tide  run- 
ning high.  The  inlets  of  Pamlico  Sound  are  dan- 
gerous always,  but  death-traps  in  heavy  weather. 
One  boat  got  through,  but  the  other  boat  was 
swamped,  the  captain  and  six  men  being  drowned. 

The  remaining  boat  sailed  up  to  Roanoke. 

No  sign  of  the  colony  remained  but  some  heavy 
cannon,  a  few  bars  of  iron  and  pigs  of  lead,  all 
overgrown  with  grass  and  weeds.  There  were 
no  traces  of  life.  Yet,  on  one  of  the  largest  trees 
near  the  site  of  the  fort,  the  bark  had  been  re- 
moved and  the  word  "Croatoan"  had  been  carved 
in  the  wood.  Since  the  word  was  unaccompanied 
by  a  cross,  which  had  been  agreed  upon  as  the 
sign  of  distress,  White  was  joyfully  confident  of 
finding  the  colonists  safe  and  sound  on  Croatoan, 
now  Okracoke  Island. 

The  boat  returned  to  the  ship,  almost  being 
swamped  as  it  passed  through  the  inlet.  The 
night  was  wild  and  stormy.  The  ships  dragged 
their  anchors  and  were  in  utmost  peril.  Despite 
the  foul  weather,  however,  the  captain  of  the 
Hopewell  agreed  to  do  the  utmost  that  seaman- 
ship could  devise  to  get  to  Croatoan. 

But  the  Hatteras  coast  is  a  raging  terror  in  a 
rough  sea.  In  weighing  anchor,  the  cable  of  the 


38         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Hopewell  broke,  causing  the  loss  of  the  anchor. 
The  ship  was  hurled  in  toward  the  shore.  Another 
anchor  was  dropped,  to  save  instant  wreck.  It 
dragged,  at  once.  There  were  but  seconds,  not 
even  minutes,  to  spare.  The  cable  was  slipped,  los- 
ing a  second  anchor,  some  sail  being  spread  simul- 
taneously. Extraordinary  seamanship  and  good 
luck  brought  the  craft  into  a  channel  almost  at 
the  very  jaws  of  the  surf  and  she  beat  out  to  sea 
with  but  a  few  fathoms  to  spare. 

With  but  one  anchor  remaining,  scant  provisions 
and  less  water,  the  Hopewell  could  not  risk  the 
danger  of  trying  to  beat  back  to  Croatoan.  It 
was  decided  to  run  to  the  West  Indies  for  supplies 
and  for  the  needed  anchors,  before  making  an- 
other try  for  rescue. 

It  was  not  to  be.  The  following  night  a  heavy 
gale  from  the  west  arose.  The  battered  Hopewell 
tried  to  hold  her  southward  course,  in  vain. 
There  was  nothing  to  do  but  to  run  before  the 
gale  with  shortened  canvas.  She  was  more  than 
halfway  to  England  before  the  violence  of  the 
storm  abated,  and,  by  that  time,  was  almost  out 
of  food  and  water,  was  leaking  badly  and  it 
was  all  her  captain  could  do  to  reach  an  English 
harbor. 

White  reached  England  on  October  24,  after 
more  than  seven  months  at  sea.  He  had  been 
within  a  few  miles  of  rescue,  but  had  returned 
in  failure.  Never  did  the  colonists  at  Croatoan 
know  how  near  help  had  been.  Never  did  Gov- 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ROANOKE     39 

ernor  White  see  again  the  settlers  of  Boanoke 
Island,  never  did  he  hear  a  word  as  to  the  fate  of 
his  infant  granddaughter,  Virginia  Dare. 

Many  years  after,  when  an  English  settlement 
had  been  established  at  Jamestown,  it  was  indi- 
rectly learned  from  the  Indians  that  there  had 
been  fighting  at  Boanoke.  Many  of  the  colonists 
had  been  slain,  but  some  had  escaped  to  Croatoan, 
where  was  the  tribe  to  which  Manteo  belonged,  and 
there  had  lived  in  peace  and  friendship  with  the 
Indians.  But  for  the  storm  that  struck  the  Hope- 
well,  Governor  White  could  have  rescued  them. 

There  are  many  traditions  as  to  the  fate  of  Vir- 
ginia Dare,  but  they  are  little  more  than  conjec- 
tures. In  one  story,  she  became  the  wife  of  a  colo- 
nist, in  another  she  wedded  an  Indian  chief,  in  a 
third,  she  died  in  infancy.  There  are  still  living, 
in  the  Carolinas,  families  who  claim  an  indirect 
descent,  but  no  proof  is  forthcoming. 

Whether  the  Croatoan  settlers  were  massacred, 
later,  or  whether  they  intermarried  with  the  In- 
dians and  were  absorbed  is  absolutely  unknown. 
One  thing  only  is  sure,  that,  as  an  English  plant- 
ing, the  Boanoke  Colony  disappeared  completely. 

Thus,  in  mystery  and  silence,  ended  the  third 
settlement  of  Virginia. 

Several  quests  were  made  for  White's  lost 
colony,  especially  those  of  Mace  in  1602  and 
Bartholomew  Gilbert  in  1603,  but  all  in  vain.  The 
tragedy  of  Boanoke  still  holds  its  secret,  and  the 


40         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

sad  page  of  the  ending  of  that  gallant  effort  is 
further  saddened  by  the  unknown  fate  of  the  first 
white  girl  born  in  United  States  territory — Vir- 
ginia Dare. 


CHAPTER  III 

JOHN"  SMITH  AND  POCAHONTAS 

Less  than  twenty  years  elapsed  between  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  Eoanoke  Colony  and  the  establish- 
ment of  the  James  Colony,  yet  these  twenty  years 
marked  the  passage  from  one  Age  into  another. 
The  Koanoke  Colony  died  at  the  end  of  the  Tudor 
dynasty,  which  had  been  medieval;  the  James 
Colony  was  born  at  the  beginning  of  the  Stuart 
dynasty,  which  led  forward  to  modern  times.  The 
reign  of  Elizabeth  was  the  bridge  between. 

Two  principal  causes  brought  about  this  change, 
in  so  far  as  they  affected  America.  The  first  was 
the  downfall  of  Spanish  sea-power,  the  second 
was  the  death  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 

Spanish  sea-power  fell  because  the  English  had 
been  the  first  to  modernize  their  ships.  They  cut 
off  the  high  fore-castles  and  poop-castles,  double- 
decked  the  waists,  and  heavily  ballasted  their 
smaller  vessels.  This  enabled  them  to  carry  a 
larger  sail  area  and  to  sail  closer  to  the  wind. 

An  English  craft,  thus  modernized,  could  at 
any  time  work  to  windward  of  a  Spanish  vessel. 
This  gave  it  the  supreme  advantage  of  the  weather 
gauge,  more  than  doubling  its  fighting  efficiency. 

41 


42         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

It  could  outsail  a  Spanish  galleon  almost  two  to 
one,  and  hence  could  hit  and  run  away  when  fac- 
ing odds ;  the  Spanish  had  to  remain  passive  and 
be  shot  at.  Further,  while  the  Dons  had  the  ad- 
vantage of  heavier  guns,  the  English  guns  were 
more  easily  handled,  and,  in  wooden  ships,  it  was 
the  number  of  shots  that  told  rather  than  the 
weight  of  metal. 

Yet  the  power  of  Spain  upon  the  seas  was  not 
decided  in  one  battle.  The  "Invincible"  Armada 
was  not  defeated.  It  was  repulsed.  It  was  pri- 
marily a  transport  fleet  of  132  vessels,  carrying 
21,261  soldiers  and  8066  sailors.  Its  main  pur- 
pose was  to  join  forces  with  a  huge  Spanish  army 
waiting  in  Holland,  and  to  land  an  invading  host 
on  England's  shores.  Naval  action  was  to  be 
merely  incidental. 

The  English  fleet  consisted  of  189  vessels, 
mostly  small,  with  a  total  fighting  strength  of 
1700  men.  It  did  not  carry  any  soldiers,  in  the 
strict  sense  of  the  word.  Its  purpose  was  not  to 
annihilate  the  Armada,  but  to  prevent  Spanish 
troops  from  landing.  It  was  a  defensive  force, 
only.  Naval  action  was  its  only  aim. 

As  such,  the  English  navy  scored  a  complete 
success.  The  Spanish  did  not  land.  Moreover, 
the  tiny  craft,  by  skillful  seamanship,  greater 
speed  and  ease  of  handling  and  superior  gunnery, 
peppered  the  cumbrous  vessels  of  their  foes  so 
thoroughly  as  to  minimize  the  fear  of  a  second 
attempt  at  invasion. 


JOHN  SMITH  AND  POCAHONTAS        43 

Yet  when  the  Armada  sailed  up  the  English 
Channel  in  July  1588,  and  even  on  that  night  at 
Gravelines  when  English  fire-ships  sent  a  panic 
into  the  Spanish  fleet,  the  power  of  Spain  received 
no  more  than  a  check.  Though  a  storm  wrecked 
nineteen  galleons  on  the  coasts  of  Scotland  and 
Ireland,  the  loss  of  men  was  but  small  when  com- 
pared with  the  hosts  which  Spain  could  summon. 
The  safe  arrival  of  a  single  treasure-fleet  from 
Mexico  or  Peru  would  repay  for  all  the  lost  ves- 
sels. 

Elizabeth  and  her  great  sea-captains  were  well 
aware  of  this.  Spain  was  rebuffed,  not  defeated. 
The  danger  remained.  Hence  neither  ships,  men 
nor  supplies  could  be  spared  for  Roanoke  and  no 
relief  expedition  was  sent  for  ten  years. 

Much  more  damaging  to  Spain  was  the  loss  she 
suffered  through  English  privateers.  Her  treas- 
ure-fleets, her  merchant  vessels  and  her  colonial 
settlements  were  continually  harassed  by  such  ter- 
rors of  the  sea  as  Hawkins,  Drake  and  Christopher 
Newport.  Swarms  of  death-dealing  maritime  hor- 
nets poured  out  from  every  English  port.  In  the 
ten  years  following  the  onset  of  the  Armada,  pri- 
vateers had  seized  or  sunk  more  than  eight  hun- 
dred Spanish  vessels  of  the  larger  sort.  By  this 
means,  the  menace  of  Spain  on  the  North  Atlantic 
Ocean  was  removed,  and  the  way  to  America  was 
opened. 

The  death  of  Queen  Elizabeth  was  little  less 
important.  It  allowed  the  English  people  to  press 


44         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

a  score  of  democratic  measures,  which  had  been 
long  desired.  This  willingness  to  wait  was  partly 
because  the  people  loved  their  aged — though  auto- 
cratic— monarch,  but  it  was  even  more  because 
they  knew  she  was  not  immortal. 

Had  Elizabeth  been  followed  on  the  throne  by 
a  masterful  king  of  Tudor  stock,  trouble  might 
have  come,  for  the  English  people  were  abso- 
lutely set  on  change.  But  James  I,  the  first  of 
the  Stuarts,  had  neither  the  personal  character 
nor  the  royal  prestige  to  check  the  reforms  which 
followed  his  accession. 

Great  changes  had  taken  place  in  England  since 
mid-Elizabethan  times.  Spanish  gold  had  poured 
into  the  country,  through  the  hands  of  the  priva- 
teers. Commerce  was  becoming  important.  Spec- 
ulation ran  high.  These  changes  caused  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  James  Colony  on  an  utterly 
different  basis  from  that  of  the  Colony  of 
Koanoke. 

The  Elizabethan  period  was  an  age  of  high  ad- 
venture, that  of  James  I  was  an  age  of  trade. 
Elizabeth  was  willing  to  make  war,  if  necessary; 
James  I  was  for  peace  at  any  price.  "While  the 
Tudor  Queen  upheld  the  feudal  principle,  she  in- 
sisted that  her  lords  should  care  for  the  poor  on 
their  estates;  the  Stuart  King  favored  the  rich 
merchants,  and  cared  not  a  whit  that  the  poor 
grew  poorer. 

Colonists  under  Elizabeth  sought  to  extend  the 
power  of  a  beloved  home-land ;  under  the  Stuarts, 


JOHN  SMITH  AND  POCAHONTAS        45 

they  sought  to  escape  from  it.  Roanoke  was  a 
court  adventure ;  James  River  was  a  commercial 
venture.  The  Raleigh  Charter  was  a  queen's 
gift  to  a  personal  favorite;  the  Charter  of  1606 
was  a  colonization  plan  put  into  the  hands  of  trad- 
ing companies. 

One  of  the  first-fruits  of  the  death  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  was  the  making  of  peace  with  Spain. 
This  unlocked  the  coffers  of  Capital,  always  held 
tightly  in  a  time  of  war.  The  ships  which  had 
been  built  by  scores,  even  by  hundreds,  for  de- 
fense and  privateering,  now  were  available  for 
trading  ventures.  Money  was  plentiful.  Eng- 
land took  a  share  in  the  rich  trade  to  the  East 
Indies.  Small  merchants  became  great  bankers 
and  were  ever  on  the  watch  for  new  investments. 

Not  only  was  there  the  money,  there  were  the 
men,  too.  A  whole  generation  of  rovers,  nobles 
and  commoners,  bred  to  sea-adventure,  now  looked 
for  a  new  outlet  for  their  energies.  They  found 
it  in  such  enterprises  as  the  East  India  Company, 
the  Muscovy  Company,  and  the  Two  Companies 
of  Virginia. 

Raleigh  was  no  longer  a  factor.  He  had  been 
imprisoned  by  James  I  for  his  ascribed  opposition 
to  the  accession  of  the  Stuart  King,  and,  after 
the  accession,  for  his  attack  on  the  King's  policy 
of  a  peace  with  Spain.  His  imprisonment  canceled 
the  astounding  charter  in  which  Queen  Elizabeth 
had  granted  to  one  man  the  possession  of  the  en- 


46         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

tire  American  shore,  from  Florida  to  Newfound- 
land. 

The  once  great  courtier  was  found  guilty  of 
treason  and  condemned  to  death  in  1603,  but  the 
execution  was  delayed  and  he  remained  a  pris- 
oned in  the  Tower  of  London  until  1616.  Ee- 
leased  on  his  declaration  that  he  knew  where  to 
find  a  gold  mine  in  Guiana,  Ealeigh  set  sail  for 
the  Orinoco  in  1617.  The  treasure-hunt  was  a 
disastrous  failure,  the  captain  of  the  fleet — a  per- 
sonal friend  of  James  I  was  driven  into  suicide. 
The  expedition  broke  up  in  mutiny.  On  the  re- 
turn of  the  gold-seekers  Ealeigh  was  promptly 
rearrested  and  was  executed  in  1618  under  the 
sentence  of  death  given  fifteen  years  before. 

The  canceling  of  Ealeigh 's  Charter  canceled 
also  all  the  grants  given  under  it.  The  gift  had 
come  from  the  Crown  and  it  returned  to  the 
Crown.  .  All  the  American  coast,  from  Florida 
northwards,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  King  to  be- 
stow as  he  pleased. 

Though  James  I  made  many  astounding  blun- 
ders, ever  and  anon  there  sh6ne  gleams  of  an 
astute  policy.  His  plans  for  colonization  were  far 
more  prudent  and  wise  than  those  of  Elizabeth.  He 
was  judicious  enough  to  adopt  the  ideas  developed 
by  Dutch  and  English  merchants  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  East  India  Company  in  1600.  More- 
over, while  under  the  thumb  of  Spain  in  some  mat- 
ters, he  calmly  defied  Philip  III  when  that  mon- 
arch tried  to  interfere  in  the  Virginia  enterprise. 


THE    DEATH    OF   QUEEN    ELIZABETH 

The  first  three  attempts  to  found  colonies  in  Virginia  all  ended  in  disaster  and  though 
nearly  twenty  years  elapsed  before  the  founding  of  the  first  successful  colony  on 
James  River,  those  twenty  years  marked  the  transition  from  one  age  of  European 
history,  the  medieval,  to  the  dawn  of  the  modern;  a  period  represented  by  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth  and  closed  by  her  dramatic  death. 


l.t  ^ 


SIR    WALTER    RALEIGH    A    PRISONER    IN   THE   TOWER 

Raleigh,  who  had  so  much  to  do  with  the  first  colonizing  expeditions  to  Virginia 
during  the  life  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  was  imprisoned  after  her  death,  for  political 
reasons,  and  did  not  share  in  the  later  and  successful  colonial  ventures. 


JOHN  SMITH  AND  POCAHONTAS        47 

As  this  defiance  determined  whether  North 
America  should  be  settled  by  the  English  or  the 
Spaniards,  the  facts  in  the  case  are  important. 

The  Treaty  of  London,  bringing  peace  between 
England  and  Spain,  was  signed  in  1605.  During 
discussion  of  its  terms,  the  Spanish  envoys  in- 
sisted that  the  treaty  should  contain  a  clause  for- 
bidding Englishmen  to  go  to  "the  Indies."  Such 
a  vague  geographical  term  might  mean  anything. 
The  English  envoys  refused,  unless  a  qualifying 
clause  should  also  be  inserted  giving  England  the 
right  to  settle  the  unoccupied  portions  of  the  New 
World.  Neither  side  would  yield,  and  the  Treaty 
was  ratified  without  any  reference  whatever  to  the 
disputed  question. 

Meanwhile,  three  important  exploring  voyages 
had  been  made  to  America.  These  were  the  voy- 
ages of  Gosnold  and  Bartholomew  Gilbert  (son 
of  Sir  Humphrey)  to  Maine,  in  1602 ;  that  of  Pring 
to  Maine  and  Massachusetts,  in  1603;  and  that 
of  Waymouth  to  Maine,  in  1605.  This  part  of 
America  was  then  known  as  "North  Virginia." 
All  these  captains  brought  encouraging  reports, 
renewing  English  interest  in  American  coloniza- 
tion. 

Since  the  Treaty  of  London  contained  no  clause 
forbidding  English  settlement  in  Virginia,  two 
groups  of  merchants  began  to  form  colonization 
projects.  One  group  had  its  center  in  London; 
the  other,  in  Plymouth.  The  London  group,  with 
Hakluyt  as  a  leading  spirit,  was  interested  in 


48         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

"Virginia";  the  Plymouth  group,  with  Sir  John 
Popham  as  its  chief,  laid  its  plans  to  settle  "North 
Virginia. ' ' 

In  the  spring  of  1606,  Spain  took  alarm.  The 
Spanish  Ambassador  went  to  Sir  John  Popham 
and  made  a  vigorous  protest,  declaring  that  these 
preparations  were  a  tacit  violation  of  the  Treaty 
of  London.  Popham  gave  an  evasive  answer, 
which  bordered  closely  upon  falsehood. 

A  month  later,  despite  Popham 's  denial,  James 
I  granted  the  First  Virginia  Charter,  under  date 
of  April  10,  1606.  The  King  boldly  ignored  all 
Spanish  claims.  He  conveyed  to  the  London  Com- 
pany all  the  shore  between  34°  and  38°  (approxi- 
mately from  Cape  Hatteras  to  the  present  Mary- 
land-Delaware border),  and  to  the  Plymouth  Com- 
pany, all  the  shore  from  41°  to  45°  (approximately 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  to  the  present 
Canadian  border).  The  Delaware  and  New  Jer- 
sey section  was  a  sort  of  No-Man  's-Land,  granted 
to  both  colonies,  the  privileges  being  accorded  to 
that  Company  which  should  be  the  first  to  plant 
a  colony  therein. 

This  Charter  continued  the  liberties  granted  to 
colonists  by  Raleigh's  Charter.  It  gave  them  the 
same  rights  as  Englishmen  living  in  England  and 
born  in  England.  This  was  a  root-principle  of 
English  colonization  and  was  a  cause  of  its  suc- 
cess. 

In  spite  of  the  declaration  of  liberty,  the  colo- 
nies were  not  self-governing.  The  supreme  power 


JOHN  SMITH  AND  POCAHONTAS        49 

lay  in  a  Royal  Council  of  Virginia,  appointed  by 
the  King.  Each  Company  was  to  have  a  colonial 
council,  self-appointed  and  self-continuing.  Each 
colony  (or  plantation)  was  to  have  a  smaller  coun- 
cil of  its  own.  But  there  was  no  provision  for 
popular  elections  and  no  means  whereby  the  colo- 
nists could  control  their  councils.  This  was  a 
prime  cause  of  discontent. 

The  land  was  to  be  held  by  an  ancient  system 
known  as  "socage."  This  meant  that  each  set- 
tler was  the  sole  owner  of  his  property,  on  the  con- 
dition of  a  certain  amount  of  work  done  for  the 
colony.  This  plan  had  its  good  points  and  its  bad 
ones.  Its  strength  lay  in  the  fact  that  it  provided 
independence  and  upheld  the  rights  of  private 
property.  Its  weakness  was  that  the  work  de- 
manded was  decided  by  the  colonial  council,  un- 
der orders  from  the  Company.  This  power  of 
enforcing  too  much  communal  work  wrecked  the 
colony. 

Such  was  the  territory,  such  were  the  times  and 
such  were  the  conditions  under  which  the  first 
permanent  English  colony  was  set  up  on  Ameri- 
can shores.  How  nearly  it  came  to  naught,  by 
how  narrow  a  margin  it  escaped  a  duplication 
of  the  Roanoke  tragedy  is  the  story  now  to  be  told. 

The  London  Company  led  the  way,  and  hence 
"Virginia"  was  the  desired  goal.  On  December 
20,  1606,  three  ships  set  sail  from  London,  under 
the  command  of  Captain  Christopher  Newport. 
The  Sarah  Constant  was  the  flagship.  Her  con- 


50         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

sorts  were  the  Goodspeed,  under  Captain  Bar- 
tholomew Gosnold,  and  the  Discovery,  under  Cap- 
tain John  Ratcliffe.  Among  other  important  men 
were  Edward  Maria  Wingfield,  the  first  presi- 
dent; George  Percy,  brother  of  the  Earl  of 
Northumberland ;  George  Kendall,  a  cousin  of  Sir 
Edwin  Sandys;  Captain  John  Smith,  rover  and 
gentleman  adventurer ;  and  Rev.  Robert  Hunt,  the 
chaplain.  The  emigrants  numbered  120  men; 
there  were  no  women  nor  children  in  the  party. 
Their  destination  was  Chesapeake  Bay,  which, 
thirty  years  before,  Lane  had  suggested  as  a  suit- 
able site  for  a  colony. 

Though  Gosnold  had  sailed  by  the  direct  route 
from  England  to  Cape  Cod,  in  1602,  and  had  taken 
but  fifty  days  for  the  passage,  he  could  not  per- 
suade Newport  to  do  so.  The  fleet  commander 
followed  the  traditional  route  by  way  of  the  Can- 
ary Islands  and  the  West  Indies,  and  hence  did 
not  sight  Virginia  until  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  days  had  elapsed.  This  four  months'  voy- 
age consumed  most  of  the  provisions  which  would 
be  needed  after  the  settlers  landed. 

To  add  to  the  troubles  of  the  journey,  Wing- 
field  and  John  Smith  became  enemies,  and  Smith, 
who  had  a  rough  tongue,  attacked  the  President 
of  the  party  in  terms  which  were  more  striking 
than  polite.  He  was  charged  with  mutiny  and 
was  kept  in  irons  all  the  way  from  Dominica  to 
Virginia. 

The  expedition  entered  Chesapeake  Bay  on  May 


JOHN  SMITH  AND  POCAHONTAS        51 

6,  1607,  naming  Cape  Henry  and  Cape  Charles 
after  the  then  Prince  of  Wales  and  his  younger 
brother.  Skirting  the  shore  they  passed  a  point 
which  they  named  Point  Comfort  and  reached 
Hampton  Eoads. 

On  landing,  the  sealed  instructions  from  the 
Company  were  opened.  Wingfield  was  named 
President  of  the  colonial  council,  with  Gosnold, 
Smith,  Ratcliffe,  Martin  and  Kendall  as  council- 
ors. Wingfield  refused  to  allow  Smith  to  take 
the  oath  of  office  as  councillor  but  he  set  him  at 
liberty.  It  was  well  that  he  did  so,  for  Captain 
John  Smith  was  "destined  to  become  the  sole  savior 
of  the  colony. 

No  more  romantic  figure  than  Smith  ever 
stepped  on  American  shores.  Born  in  England 
in  the  year  1580,  he  ran  away  to  the  wars  when 
only  fifteen  years  of  age.  In  France  and  in  the 
Netherlands,  though  still  in  his  teens,  he  made  his 
mark  as  a  fighting  man.  AJ:ter  a  long  campaign 
he  returned  to  England,  but  a  quiet  life  did  not 
suit  him.  He  determined  to  try  his  fortune 
against  the  Turks. 

Riding  across  France  to  take  ship  on  the  Medi- 
terranean, he  was  waylaid  by  highwaymen,  robbed 
and  wounded.  He  managed  to  walk  to  Marseilles, 
where  he  embarked  with  a  ship-load  of  Roman 
Catholic  pilgrims  on  their  way  to  the  East.  A 
heavy  storm  arose,  and,  the  pilgrims  ascribing 
this  tempest  to  the  presence  of  a  heretic  in  their 
midst,  they  threw  Smith  overboard  to  drown. 


62         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Being  a  powerful  swimmer,  the  young  Eng- 
lishman managed  to  make  his  way  ashore  to  a 
small  isle,  not  far  away,  inhabited  only  by  goats. 
He  lived  on  goat's  milk  and  goat's  flesh  for  a  few 
weeks  and  then  was  picked  up  by  a  passing  Breton 
ship.  He  helped  the  crew  to  attack  and  capture  a 
richly  laden  Venetian  galley,  and  because  of  the 
extraordinary  valor  he  had  shown,  received  a  fat 
share  of  the  plunder. 

Smith  went  ashore,  at  the  first  port  the  ship 
touched  in  Italy,  and,  with  plenty  of  money  in 
his  pocket,  traveled  northward  in  leisurely  fash- 
ion, using  his  remarkable  powers  of  observation 
to  the  uttermost,  especially  in  all  such  matters  as 
fortification.  He  was  an  inveterate  reader  of 
military  treatises,  and  made  it  his  business  to 
meet  the  chief  captains  of  war,  wherever  he  went. 

Soon  after  making  his  way  into  Hungary,  he 
was  appointed  commander  of  a  troop  of  horse. 
Not  long  after,  Emperor  Eudolph  II  transferred 
this  troop  to  the  service  of  Prince  Sigismund  of 
Transylvania,  and  recommended  the  young  cav- 
alry leader  to  the  prince's  special  attention. 

There,  at  last,  Smith  found  his  long-sought  op- 
portunity of  fighting  against  the  Turks  and  he 
distinguished  himself  remarkably.  Though  not 
tall,  Smith  was  thick-set  and  of  astounding  physi- 
cal strength.  He  showed  this  at  the  siege  of  Re- 
gal, which  the  Transylvanians  were  attacking  with 
scant  success,  with  so  little  success,  indeed,  that 
the  Turks  grew  sarcastic  at  the  expense  of  their 


JOHN  SMITH  AND  POCAHONTAS        53 

enemies  and  announced  that  "they  were  growing 
too  fat  for  lack  of  exercise. ' ' 

One  day,  a  Turkish  champion  sent  a  challenge 
to  the  Transylvanian  army.  He  suggested  that 
"in  order  to  delight  the  ladies,  who  did  long  to 
see  some  court-like  pastime,  he  did  defy  any  cap- 
tain that  had  command  of  a  company,  who  durst 
combat  with  him  for  his  head.'* 

The  Christian  army  accepted  the  challenge. 
Lots  were  cast  and  the  lot  fell  on  Smith. 

A  truce  was  proclaimed,  tournament-lists  built, 
the  Turkish  ladies  lined  the  walls  to  see  the  joust, 
and  the  Turkish  champion  and  Smith  rode  at 
each  over  with  leveled  lances.  Smith  killed  his 
opponent  at  the  first  thrust  and  cut  off  the  Turk's 
head. 

Humiliated  by  this  defeat,  the  Turks  picked 
their  most  famous  jouster,  and,  the  next  day,  they 
sent  a  personal  challenge  to  Smith.  The  chal- 
lenge was  accepted.  This  time  the  duel  was  more 
even.  Both  lances  were  shivered.  Each  of  the 
duelists  drew  pistols,  but  Smith  was  both  the 
quicker  and  had  the  better  aim.  At  the  first  shot, 
the  Turk  fell  and  Smith  cut  off  his  head. 

For  a  couple  of  weeks  there  were  no  further 
challenges  from  the  Turks.  Then  Smith,  answer- 
ing taunt  for  taunt,  challenged  "any  Turk  of  his 
rank"  to  meet  him  on  the  same  conditions.  This 
gave  the  Turk  the  choice  of  weapons,  and  battle- 
axes  were  named. 

Less  accustomed  to  this  barbaric  weapon,  Smith 


54         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

was  at  a  disadvantage.  After  a  few  minutes' 
exchange  of  terrific  blows,  the  Englishman's 
weapon  flew  out  of  his  hands.  "With  a  cry  of 
triumph,  the  Turk  whirled  his  ax  to  cut  down 
his  foe.  Smith,  an  accomplished  horseman, 
avoided  the  flashing  steel  by  the  merest  fraction 
of  distance,  and,  before  the  turbaned  champion 
could  recover  his  poise,  the  Englishman  drew  his 
sword  and  thrust  at  a  vital  spot.  The  Turk  fell 
from  his  horse,  and,  an  instant  after,  he  was  be- 
headed. For  this  deed  Smith  was  knighted  by 
Prince  Sigismund,  and  was  granted  a  coat  of  arms 
with  three  Turks'  heads. 

Good  fortune  was  not  always  to  be  on  his  side. 
In  1602,  at  the  Battle  of  Eothenthurm,  Smith  was 
taken  prisoner  by  the  Turks  and  was  sold  into 
slavery.  He  was  taken  to  Constantinople,  where 
he  was  bought  by  Lady  Charatza  Tragabigzanda. 
For  a  time,  he  was  held  so  high  in  the  lady 's  favor 
that  envious  tongues  wagged.  To  put  an  end 
to  gossip,  Lady  Tragabigzanda  sent  the  English 
slave  to  her  brother,  who  was  a  Pasha  in  the  coun- 
try of  the  Cossacks. 

There  Smith  was  treated  as  harshly  as  any  com- 
mon slave,  and  he  never  ceased  to  watch  for  an  op- 
portunity to  escape.  One  day,  the  Pasha  actually 
struck  him.  The  desperate  Englishman,  despite 
the  iron  collar  around  his  neck,  dealt  his  master 
a  fatal  blow  with  the  flail  with  which  he  was 
threshing  wheat,  dressed  himself  in  the  dead 
man's  clothes,  mounted  the  Pasha's  horse  and 


JOHN  SMITH  AND  POCAHONTAS        55 

galloped  off  to  the  Scythian  desert.  He  made  his 
way  to  Russian  territory,  thence  to  Poland  and 
back  to  Hungary.  He  received  a  letter  of  safe 
conduct  from  Prince  Sigismund,  his  former  com- 
mander, and  reached  Germany  and  France,  on 
his  way  home. 

But  the  smell  of  powder  attracted  him  anew  to 
Spain  and  Morocco.  There  Smith  served  with 
added  distinction,  returning  to  England  only  a 
few  months  before  the  departure  of  Newport  with 
the  colonists  for  Virginia. 

Such  a  man  was  a  godsend  to  the  Company, 
which,  at  that  time,  was  seeking  men  accustomed 
to  command  and  who  were  sufficiently  self-reliant 
to  be  able  to  face  new  conditions.  From  Smith's 
viewpoint,  the  attraction  of  a  voyage  to  Virginia 
was  that  of  finding  a  new  and  unexplored  coun- 
try, utterly  different  from  any  in  which  he  had 
adventured. 

With  such  a  career  behind  him,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  Smith  should  have  had  but  little  pa- 
tience with  Wingfield,  or,  for  that  matter,  with 
any  of  the  leaders  of  the  expedition.  None  of 
them  had  pioneer  experience,  none  had  sustained 
such  astounding  adventures.  Smith  considered 
them  incompetent  for  work  so  stern  and  difficult 
as  he  foresaw  it  would  be,  and  he  did  not  scruple 
to  say  so. 

Never  was  a  man  with  blunter  speech  than 
Smith,  and  though  his  rivals  rightly  complained 
that  he  had  an  insufferable  opinion  of  his  own 


56         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

prowess,  they  could  not  deny  that  he  was  able  to 
make  good  every  boast  he  uttered.  Very  different 
might  have  been  the  history  of  the  James  River 
Colony,  if  Smith  had  been  made  the  leader  from 
the  very  start. 

Among  the  sealed  instructions  which  were 
opened  by  Wingfield,  on  landing,  was  a  paper  from 
Hakluyt,  giving  advice  as  to  the  necessary  require- 
ments for  a  site.  It  should  be,  he  said,  some  dis- 
tance up  a  navigable  river,  protected  by  a  fort  at 
the  river's  mouth;  it  should  be  upon  high-lying 
land,  in  order  to  avoid  disease;  and  it  should  be 
far  from  a  forest  which  would  give  shelter  to 
enemies. 

In  spite  of  Smith's  endorsement  of  this  advice — 
or,  perhaps,  because  of  it — Wingfield  disregarded 
every  word.  He  chose  a  wooded  peninsula  with 
a  pestilential  swamp  at  the  back,  and  a  heavy 
growth  of  high  grass  running  up  to  the  very  fort. 
Its  sole  advantage  was  that  there  was  good  an- 
chorage for  ships  and  that  its  peninsular  form 
adapted  it  for  military  defense. 

After  a  couple  of  weeks  spent  in  helping  the 
settlers  to  construct  a  fort,  Newport  began  the 
exploration  of  the  surrounding  country.  He  asked 
Smith  to  accompany  him.  With  twenty-four  men, 
they  sailed  up  the  broad  stream,  which,  in  honor 
of  the  King,  they  named  the  James  River.  They 
reached  as  high  as  a  little  Indian  village  called 
Powhatan  Falls,  just  above  the  present  site  of 
Richmond.  The  natives  were  friendly.  Newport 


JOHN  SMITH  AND  POCAHONTAS        57 

was  of  a  kindly  disposition  and  Smith  possessed 
positive  genius  in  dealing  with  Indians. 

The  local  tribal  conditions  aided  the  alliance. 
Each  tribe,  while  obeying  its  own  chief,  gave  al- 
legiance to  the  head  war-chief  of  the  Powhatan 
tribe,  the  leader  in  this  loose  confederacy.  The 
principal  village  of  the  Powhatans  was  called 
Werowocomoco  and  was  on  the  York  River,  fif- 
teen miles  from  the  newly  constructed  English 
fort,  first  known  as  James  Fort  and  afterwards 
as  Jamestown. 

When  Newport  and  Smith  returned,  they  found 
the  fort  had  been  attacked  by  Indians  hostile  to 
the  Powhatan  confederacy.  The  savages  had  been 
repulsed,  but  one  Englishman  had  been  killed  and 
eleven  wounded,  among  the  latter  being  four  of 
the  five  councillors. 

Under  Newport 's  orders,  the  fort  was  strength- 
ened and  palisadoed,  eight  days  being  spent  at  the 
work.  Newport  chafed  at  the  delay,  for  the  wind 
was  fair  for  England.  Moreover,  so  much  time 
had  passed  since  the  fleet  left  England  that  only 
four  months'  provisions  were  left.  It  was  very 
doubtful  whether  a  voyage  to  England  and  back, 
with  more  supplies,  could  be  made  within  that 
time. 

On  June  21,  Opechancanough,  chief  of  the  Pa- 
munkey  tribe  and  brother  of  Powhatan,  sent  a 
messenger  to  the  fort  to  assure  the  white  men  of 
his  friendship  and  alliance.  This  was  due  to  a 
message  from  Powhatan  who  had  heard  favorably 


58         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

of  Newport  and  Smith  from  Parahunt,  chief  of 
the  sub-tribe  at  Powhatan  Falls.  On  this  evi- 
dence of  Indian  friendship,  Newport 's  fears  were 
greatly  relieved,  and  he  set  sail  for  England  the 
following  day. 

But  Jamestown  was  its  own  worst  foe.  All  the 
councillors  were  mutinously  inclined  towards 
Wingfield,  and  few  were  on  friendly  terms  with 
the  others.  The  food  was  scant  and  the  water  bad. 
The  region  was  a  hot-bed  of  malaria  and  low 
fever.  The  "Paradise  of  Virginia"  showed  itself 
on  closer  acquaintance  to  be  a  gloomy,  pest-rid- 
den, mosquito-haunted,  tide-water  swamp. 

George  Percy  gives  a  good  picture  of  the  suf- 
ferings of  that  time. 

"Our  men/'  he  wrote,  "were  destroyed  in  cruel 
diseases,  burning  fevers  and  by  wars,  some  died 
suddenly,  but  the  most  part,  of  mere  famine. 
There  never  were  Englishmen  left  in  a  foreign 
country  in  such  misery  as  we  were  in  this  new- 
discovered  Virginia.  .  .  .  Laying  on  the  bare,  cold 
ground,  what  weather  soever  came,  brought  our 
men  to  be  most  feeble  wretches. 

"Our  food  was  but  a  small  can  of  barley  sodden 
in  water,  divided  among  five  men  once  a  day.  Our 
drink  was  cold  water  taken  out  of  the  river, 
which  was  at  flood  very  salt,  and  at  a  low  tide 
full  of  slime  and  filth,  which  was  the  destruction 
of  many  of  our  men. 

"Thus  we  lived  for  the  space  of  five  months 


JOHN  SMITH  AND  POCAHONTAS        59 

in  this  miserable  distress,  not  having  five  able  men 
to  man  our  bulwarks  upon  any  occasion.  .  .  . 
Many  times,  three  or  four  died  in  one  night.  In 
the  morning,  their  bodies  were  trailed  out  of  their 
cabins,  like  dogs,  to  be  buried." 

The  first  of  the  councillors  to  die  was  Captain 
Gosnold,  a  clear-headed  sailor  whose  sense  of  dis- 
cipline had  helped  to  hold  the  council  together. 
After  his  death,  the  feud  between  Wingfield  and 
Smith  flared  high.  Smith  accused  the  president 
of  keeping  food  and  wine  for  himself,  mean- 
while starving  the  men;  he  further  charged  him 
with  tyranny  and  treason  to  the  Company.  Wing- 
field  reasserted  his  accusation  of  mutiny,  though 
Smith  had  been  acquitted  by  a  jury  a  few  days 
before  Newport  sailed  for  home. 

The  truth  was  that  Wingfield  was  a  gallant 
soldier  and  an  honorable  gentleman,  but  an  ut- 
terly incompetent  leader;  Smith  was  a  rough- 
tongued  and  mutinous  hot-head,  but  a  born  pio- 
neer and  a  natural  master  of  men. 

Early  in  September,  Wingfield  was  deposed 
both  from  the  presidency  and  the  council,  and 
Ratcliffe  was  elected  in  his  place.  Soon  after- 
wards, a  new  mutiny  was  discovered,  headed  by 
Captain  Kendall.  The  treason  was  fully  proved. 
By  order  of  the  council,  Kendall  was  taken  out 
and  shot. 

During  these  pitiful  and  shameful  times,  Smith 
alone  saved  the  situation.  Many  visits  he  made 


60         THE  COMING  OP  THE  PEOPLES 

to  the  Indians  and  managed  to  secure  small 
stores  of  corn.  Then,  to  use  his  own  words, ' l  came 
welcome  relief,  such  abundance  of  fowls  (wild 
ducks,  probably)  upon  our  rivers  as  greatly  re- 
freshed our  weak  estate,  whereupon  many  of  our 
weak  men  were  presently  able  to  go  abroad. 

"As  yet  we  had  no  houses  to  cover  us.  Our 
tents  were  rotten  and  our  cabins  worse  than 
nought.  .  .  .  At  this  time  most  of  our  chiefest 
men  were  either  sick  or  discontented,  the  rest  be- 
ing in  such  despair  that  they  would  rather  starve 
and  rot  with  idleness  than  be  persuaded  to  do 
anything  for  their  own  relief. ' ' 

Such  hopeless  despair  seems  incredible,  for  the 
woods  were  full  of  game,  the  seas  full  of  fish. 
Either  Smith  or  G-osnold  could  have  whipped  the 
idlers  into  shape,  but  Smith  had  enemies  and 
Gosnold  was  dead. 

On  December  10,  having  secured  enough  food 
from  the  Indians  to  last  the  fort  a  little  while, 
Smith  started  on  a  trading,  hunting  and  exploring 
expedition  up  the  Chickahominy  River.  Having 
gone  as  far  in  the  shallop  as  the  water  would  al- 
low, he  proceeded  onward  in  a  canoe  with  two 
of  his  comrades  and  two  Indian  guides.  While 
exploring  ashore,  the  party  of  five  was  attacked 
by  a  force  of  two  hundred  Indians.  Smith's  two 
white  comrades  were  killed,  and  he  was  taken 
prisoner. 

The  motive  for  this  attack,  according  to  Wing- 
field  's  narrative,  was  revenge,  since  some  Indians 


JOHN  SMITH  AND  POCAHONTAS        61 

of  this  tribe  had  been  kidnaped  by  white  men, 
many  years  before,  possibly  those  of  the  ill-fated 
Bartholomew  Gilbert  expedition.  Smith  was  con- 
ducted to  several  Indian  villages  by  his  captors 
and  the  chiefs  were  asked  if  he  resembled  the 
leader  of  the  kidnapers.  With  strict  honesty, 
all  agreed  that  he  was  much  broader  but  not  as 
tall  as  the  man  sought.  The  English  captain 
was  then  taken  before  Powhatan  for  judgment. 

In  the  skirmish  during  which  his  two  com- 
rades had  been  slain,  Smith  had  killed  several 
Indians.  According  to  redskin  law,  his  life  was 
forfeit  to  the  tribe.  Powhatan,  therefore,  in  spite 
of  his  former  friendship,  ordered  the  captive 's  im- 
mediate execution. 

Two  large  flat  stones  were  laid  on  the  ground 
in  front  of  the  chief.  Smith  was  forced  to  lie 
down  with  his  head  upon  one  of  these,  while  a 
group  of  braves  surrounded  him  with  tomahawks, 
ready  to  beat  out  his  brains  when  the  chief  should 
give  the  word. 

At  this  juncture,  Pocahontas,  the  daughter  of 
Powhatan  and  then  but  twelve  years  old,  rushed 
forward,  and,  throwing  herself  on  the  ground  be- 
side the  captive,  she  laid  her  head  on  his. 

Powhatan,  without  expressing  either  anger  or 
even  surprise,  at  once  ordered  the  executioners 
to  retire,  and  Smith's  life  was  saved.  The  Eng- 
lish captain's  amazement  was  great,  for  he  could 
not  fathom  Pocahontas '  purpose. 

Two  days  later,  the  mystery  of  this  release  deep- 


62         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

ened.  The  old  chief,  having,  in  Smith's  words, 
"disguised  himself  in  the  fearfullest  manner  he 
could,"  ordered  that  the  captive  be  taken  to  a 
great  house  standing  lonely  by  itself  in  the  woods. 
There,  "after  the  dolefullest  noise  that  ever  was 
heard"  and  after  a  vast  number  of  ceremonies 
which  Smith  could  in  no  manner  understand,  the 
great  war-chief  came  out  of  this  lonely  house 
"looking  more  like  a  devil  than  a  man"  and  in- 
formed the  prisoner  that  he  was  free. 

Moreover,  Powhatan  declared  anew  his  friend- 
ship for  Smith  and  agreed  to  a  personal  exchange 
of  gifts.  On  Smith's  return  to  the  fort,  he  was 
to  send  Powhatan  two  cannons  and  a  grindstone, 
in  return  for  which  he  would  be  granted  a  piece 
of  land  in  the  village  and  would  evermore  be  re- 
garded as  the  chief's  own  son. 

Smith 's  own  story  of  this  rescue  is  peculiarly  in- 
teresting. He  shows,  quite  clearly,  that  he  did 
not  understand  the  actions  of  the  Indians,  and, 
until  quite  recently,  the  interference  of  Poca- 
hontas  has  been  grossly  misread.  A  thorough 
knowledge  of  Indian  law  and  Indian  customs 
throws  a  clear  light  on  the  whole  affair. 

Pocahontas  was  the  younger  sister  of  Parahunt, 
the  young  chief  at  Powhatan  Falls  with  whom 
Newport  and  Smith  had  made  a  treaty  of  friend- 
ship. Powhatan,  the  father  of  Pocahontas,  was 
friendly  to  the  whites  at  this  time.  Although  he 
was  head  war-chief  of  the  confederacy,  however, 
he  could  not  go  against  Indian  law,  but  rather 


THE    DEFEAT   OF   THE    SPANISH   ARMADA 

The  gathering  of  the  Armada  in  the  spring  of  1588  interfered  with  the  plans  of  the 
Virginia  colonies.  Every  ship  and  every  man  was  needed  in  England  for  the  defence 
of  the  country.  England  was  fighting  for  her  life  and  she  knew  it.  One  of  the  relief 
expeditions  fitted  out  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  under  the  command  of  Grenville  was 
stopped  by  the  Lord  High  Admiral  and  the  ships  seized  for  the  navy. 


POCAHONTAS  CLAIMING  THE  LIFE  OF  THE  CONDEMNED  MAN 
AT  THE   EXECUTION   STONE 

It  was  an  iron-bound  rule,  under  the  old  Indian  laws,  that  a  prisoner  of  war,  who 
had  killed  any  member  of  the  tribe  must  be  put  to  death  unless  he  became,  himself, 
a  member  of  the  tribe,  to  replace  the  loss  he  had  caused.  Pocahontas'  action  was 
to  express  that  Smith  had  become  her  adopted  brother  and  so  a  candidate  for  formal 
adoption  into  the  tribe. 


JOHN  SMITH  AND  POCAHONTAS         63 

was  required  to  administer  justice  according  to 
that  law. 

It  was  an  iron-bound  rule  that  a  prisoner  of  war, 
who  had  killed  any  member  of  the  tribe,  must  be 
put  to  death  unless  he  became,  himself,  a  member 
of  the  tribe,  to  replace  the  loss  that  he  had  caused. 
This  he  could  only  do  by  adoption. 

Any  member  of  the  tribe,  old  or  young,  male 
or  female,  had  a  right  to  demand  the  life  of  a 
condemned  prisoner  of  war,  providing  the  cap- 
tive was  willing  to  be  adopted  and  providing  that 
the  sponsor  was  ready  to  assume  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  acts  of  the  new  member  of  the  tribe. 

Pocahontas,  therefore,  was  not  acting  under  the 
impulse  of  "love  at  first  sight",  as  has  often  been 
supposed.  She  was  only  twelve  years  old.  She 
was  carrying  out  a  not  uncommon  form  of  Indian 
custom.  It  is  more  than  possible  that  Powhatan 
had  arranged  the  matter  beforehand. 

Smith 's  own  account  of  what  happened  after  he 
had  been  saved  from  the  tomahawks  shows  that 
this  is  the  true  explanation.  He  was  utterly  in 
the  dark  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  ceremonies  that 
followed,  but  they  are  quite  clear  to  any  student 
of  Indian  ways. 

Powhatan  was  a  medicine-man,  as  well  as  a 
war-chief.  When  Pocahontas,  by  her  action, 
avowed  herself  as  Smith's  tribal  sponsor,  it  was 
necessary  to  carry  out  the  ceremonies  of  adop- 
tion. The  "disguise  in  fearfullest  manner"  of 
which  Smith  writes  was  undoubtedly  Powhatan 's 


64         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

medicine-man  costume.  The  lonely  house  in  the 
woods  was  the  medicine  hut,  which  is  always  dis- 
tant from  the  camp.  The  doleful  howling  were 
the  chants  and  ceremonies  of  adoption.  It  was  in 
full  ceremonial  paint,  "  looking  more  like  a  devil 
than  a  man,"  that  Powhatan  formally  notified 
Smith  of  his  reception  into  the  tribe. 

The  exchange  of  goods  ratified  the  acceptance. 
The  gift  of  a  piece  of  land  was  an  evidence  of 
tribal  rights.  The  statement  that  Smith  would  be 
the  chief 's  own  son  was  an  announcement  that  he 
had  become  the  adopted  brother  of  Pocahontas, 
the  chief's  daughter.  That  the  alliance  was  ac- 
cepted by  the  tribe  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  Pocahon- 
tas was  allowed  to  visit  the  fort  frequently,  with 
the  consent  of  her  father,  and  that  the  sending  of 
regular  supplies  by  the  Powhatan  Indians  began 
at  the  same  time. 

A  correct  understanding  of  the  relations  be- 
tween the  little  Indian  girl  and  the  famous  soldier 
of  fortune  does  not  weaken  their  importance  nor 
diminish  their  beauty.  The  figures  of  the  winsome 
Pocahontas  and  the  valiant  John  Smith  will  ever 
cast  a  gentle  glamor  over  the  quarrels  and  suf- 
ferings which  darkened  the  history  of  the  first 
English  settlement  on  the  James  River. 


CHAPTER  IV 

•THE  STABVTNG  TIME 

The  adoption  of  Captain  John  Smith  by  the 
Powhatan  Indians  was  a  matter  of  supreme  im- 
portance to  the  colony,  yet  it  was  only  by  the 
narrowest  squeak  that  the  adventurer  lived  to 
take  advantage  of  it.  When  he  returned  to 
Jamestown,  January  2,  1608,  he  found  his  head 
in  greater  peril  than  when  he  was  lying  on  a  stone 
in  front  of  the  war-chief,  expecting  the  tomahawk- 
wielders  to  beat  out  his  brains. 

Envy,  hatred  and  mutiny  had  broken  out  afresh. 
During  Smith's  absence,  his  most  vindictive  en- 
emy, Gabriel  Archer,  had  been  elected  a  member 
of  the  council.  Archer  was  both  a  lawyer  and  a 
fanatic.  From  the  moment  of  his  election  he 
schemed  ways  to  injure  Smith. 

Finally,  despairing  of  reaching  his  enemy  by 
the  civil  law,  he  bethought  him  of  a  strange  idea. 
In  the  Old  Testament  he  found  an  ancient  Leviti- 
cal  law  which  stated  that  a  commander  who  un- 
necessarily led  his  men  into  a  danger  whereby 
they  perished  should  himself  be  put  to  death. 
Upon  Smith's  arrival  at  the  fort  he  was  instantly 

65 


66          THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

arrested  and  charged  by  Archer  with  the  viola- 
tion of  this  law. 

Ratcliffe,  the  new  president,  was  not  unwilling 
to  get  rid  of  Smith.  He  was  afraid  of  him.  He 
feared  that  the  news  of  the  captain's  success  with 
the  Indians  would  gain  him  too  many  supporters, 
and  Ratcliffe  was  well  aware  that  his  rule  was 
detested. 

The  council  had  become  a  farce.  Gosnold  and 
Kendall  were  dead;  Wingfield  and  Smith  were 
prisoners.  The  two  conspirators,  Ratcliffe  and 
Archer,  formed  a  majority  of  the  council.  They 
promptly  found  Smith  guilty  under  this  long-for- 
gotten Levitical  law  and  condemned  him  to  be 
hanged  next  day. 

But  Captain  John  Smith  was  born  to  adventure. 
He  had  not  escaped  death  a  score  of  times  to  be 
hanged  because  of  the  spite  of  a  rascal  like  Archer. 

That  very  evening,  by  a  chance  which  reads  like 
the  happenings  of  a  fairy  tale,  Newport  suddenly 
arrived  before  the  fort  in  the  John  and  Francis, 
bringing  what  is  known  as  "The  First  Supply." 

He  found  a  terrible  state  of  affairs. 

When  Newport  left  Jamestown,  on  June  22, 
1607,  there  were  105  colonists  surviving.  When 
he  returned,  on  January  2,  1608,  only  38  men  re- 
mained alive  to  greet  him.  All  were  weakened 
with  famine  and  disease.  Of  the  six  councillors, 
one  was  dead  from  disease,  one  had  been  executed, 
one  had  been  deposed  and  was  in  irons,  and  one 
was  under  sentence  to  be  hanged  next  day. 


THE  STARVING  TIME  67 

Newport,  like  the  dashing  privateer  and  disci- 
plinary sea-dog  that  he  was,  burst  upon  Ratcliffe 
and  Archer  like  a  northern  gale.  He  thundered 
contempt  of  the  decrees  of  President  Ratcliffe 
and  swore  that  if  Archer  dared  to  open  his  mouth 
to  him,  he  would  have  him  stripped,  tied  to  a  tree 
and  given  forty  lashes.  He  released  Wingfield 
and  Smith  and  restored  the  latter  to  his  place  on 
the  council. 

For  a  few  days,  hope  revived.  The  John  and 
Francis  had  brought  a  fair  cargo  of  supplies,  but 
she  had  also  brought  more  colonists  (either  90 
or  120  according  to  different  accounts).  This 
hope  was  too  good  to  last. 

Disaster  dogged  the  settlers  steadily.  Five  days 
after  the  arrival  of  the  ship,  a  fire  broke  out  which 
consumed  the  dwellings  and  the  storehouses  and 
a  large  part  of  the  food.  The  winter  was  cold  and 
the  marsh-land  damp.  The  new  arrivals,  com- 
pelled to  live  in  mere  shelters  of  boughs  loosely 
woven  together,  speedily  sickened.  Many  took 
pneumonia  and  died  within  a  few  weeks  of  their 
landing. 

Newport,  accompanied  by  Smith,  made  an  of- 
ficial visit  to  Powhatan.  The  fleet  commander  had 
brought  from  England  a  number  of  showy  gifts 
for  the  war-chief,  and  since  Smith's  adoption  into 
the  tribe  was  but  recent,  the  Indian  leader  was 
most  friendly.  He  ordered  Newport's  pinnace  to 
be  loaded  to  the  gunwales  with  provisions. 

Despite  this  double  supply — from  the  John  and 


68         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Francis  and  from  Powhatan — Newport's  stay 
helped  the  colony  but  little.  The  London  Com- 
pany, seeing  all  the  money  going  out  and  none 
coming  in,  had  ordered  him  to  bring  back  a  cargo. 
By  the  terms  of  the  charter,  communal  work  was 
compulsory. 

To  fulfill  the  desires  of  the  London  merchants, 
the  sick  and  hungered  colonists  were  compelled 
to  labor  at  back-breaking  toil.  Huge  black  walnut 
trees  were  felled  and  hewn  into  logs  for  ship- 
ment. There  were  no  roads,  no  horses,  no  ma- 
chinery. The  logs  had  to  be  hauled  and  lifted  by 
the  poor  strength  of  the  exhausted  settlers.  Cap- 
tain Martin  had  discovered  some  ore  which  he 
wrongly  supposed  might  contain  gold,  and  weary 
weeks  were  spent  in  digging  this  worthless  stuff. 

As  a  result  of  this  wasted  energy,  the  impera- 
tive needs  of  the  colony  were  neglected.  Only  four 
acres  of  land  were  cleared  and  planted  with  corn 
that  spring. 

Disease  and  exposure,  and,  above  all,  the  slavery 
of  overwork  in  a  fetid  marsh,  claimed  their  toll 
of  life.  When  Newport  sailed  again  for  England, 
on  April  14,  1608,  he  had  his  cargo,  but  it  was  at 
the  cost  of  two  score  graves  and  more.  Even 
with  the  addition  of  the  new  arrivals,  only  53  men 
were  left  alive.  Wingfield,  the  deposed  president, 
and  Archer,  the  trouble-maker,  went  back  with 
Newport. 

Ten  days  after  the  John  and  Francis  had  left 
with  her  cargo,  the  Phoenix  arrived.  She  brought 


THE  STARVING  TIME  69 

45  more  colonists  and  additional  supplies.  But 
her  captain,  also,  by  the  orders  of  the  Company, 
demanded  a  cargo  of  cedar.  With  better  weather, 
new  hands  and  plenty  of  supplies,  the  small  vessel 
was  quickly  loaded.  The  light  cedar  was  easier  to 
handle.  There  were  95  colonists  living  when  the 
Phosnix  sailed  for  England  in  June. 

Smith  spent  the  summer  exploring  Chesapeake 
Bay,  and  the  Potomac,  Susquehanna  and  Rappa- 
hannock  Rivers.  His  map  of  those  regions  is  a 
monument  of  skill,  hard  work,  keen  observation 
and  a  marvelous  understanding  of  Indians.  But, 
when  he  returned  to  Jamestown,  he  found  the 
settlement  in  as  desperate  a  state  as  ever. 

The  malarial  season  of  1608  had  been  as  bad 
as  that  of  the  year  before,  and  the  swampy  site 
of  Jamestown  was  a  deliberate  challenge  to  Death. 
Mutiny,  also,  had  broken  out  again.  Ratcliffe  had 
been  deposed,  and  Matthew  Scrivener  elected  tem- 
porarily in  his  place.  When  Ratcliffe 's  term 
ended,  Smith  was  unanimously  chosen  President. 

Less  than  three  weeks  after  Smith's  election, 
on  September  29,  1608,  Newport  arrived  with  the 
"Second  Supply.'*  He  found  but  50  colonists 
alive. 

The  colonists  brought  in  the  Second  Supply 
numbered  70 ;  of  these  Captain  Peter  Wynne  and 
Captain  Richard  Waldo  were  appointed  to  be  of 
the  council.  Among  the  new  settlers  was  one  gen- 
tlewoman, Mrs.  Forrest,  and  also  her  maid,  Anne 
Burras.  Two  months  later  the  maid  married  John 


70         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Laydon,  this  being  the  first  English  marriage 
ceremony  on  American  soil.  She  gave  birth,  a 
year  later,  to  Virginia  Laydon,  the  first  white 
baby  born  in  the  James  River  colony. 

As  on  his  former  voyage,  Newport  brought 
drastic  orders  from  the  London  Company  that 
the  colony  must  bestir  itself  to  make  money  for 
its  backers.  Either  a  route  to  the  Pacific  Ocean 
or  a  gold-mine  must  be  found  immediately ;  other- 
wise, large  cargoes  of  rare  woods  must  be  got 
ready  for  shipment. 

Smith  bluntly  told  the  commander  that  the 
members  of  the  Company  were  fools.  Yet  he  was 
a  soldier,  and  he  obeyed  the  orders  without  hesita- 
tion. 

In  December,  1608,  Newport  returned  to  Eng- 
land with  a  cargo  of  pitch,  tar,  iron  ore  and 
timber,  provided  under  conditions  of  terrible  toil 
by  the  feeble  and  short-handed  settlers.  Smith 
grew  more  and  more  furious  as  the  slow  process 
of  loading  continued,  and  he  wrote  to  the  Com- 
pany what  he  rightly  called  "A  Rude  Letter." 

This  epistle  was  as  truthful  as  it  was  insubor- 
dinate. Speaking  for  the  colonists,  Smith  declared 
that  "in  overtaxing  our  weak  and  unskillful  bodies 
to  satisfy  this  desire  of  present  profit,  we  scarce 
can  recover  ourselves  from  one  Supply  to  an- 
other. ' '  He  pointed  out  that  this  policy  of  putting 
a  few  pennies  into  the  pockets  of  London  mer- 
chants, at  the  cost  of  life  and  hope  in  Virginia, 
made  the  colony  dependent  upon  Indian  charity. 


ARRIVAL    OF    SUPPLY   SHIPS   AT  JAMESTOWN 

Such  a  scene  was  of  frequent  occurrence  when  the  colony  became  a  settled  reality 
but  in  the  first  days  of  the  settlement  such  a  sight  was  always  welcome,  never  more 
so  however  than  on  the  arrival  of  the  John  and  Francis  "The  First  Supply." 


POCAHONTAS   LEARNING   TO   READ 

Pocahontas  frequently  visited  Jamestown  after  the  return  of  Captain  Smith  from 
the  Indian  camp.  Tradition  says  he  taught  her  to  read  and  this  old  painting  shows 
the  winsome  daughter  of  Powhatan  and  the  valiant  captain  at  study. 


Hi5  three  It 


HIS   I 

U 


'in.f/i'  (  onwati  Chap*  i  • 
'v't  tfi  TVR  B  AS  FT  AVVY7  y; 

f 

»V'>*  -  F^ 

*  ^\oa?  t«-w  i  1 

V*1HBS«iA!-J 


Turbashaw  was  tin-  tirst  cliainnion  sent  out  bv  the  Turks  to  joust  with  the  Christian  knight 


iombatwitfi    OKVALGO-Cap*  of  tfireefiundrffcf  ftorftnen 
Chaff      J 


Grualgo  was  the  second  champion  picked  by  the  Turks  and  too  was  quickly  drlCatcd. 

PICTURES  FROM   THE  HISTORY  OF  CAPTAIN  JOHN   SMITH'S   TRAVELS 
AMONG  THE  TURKS 


How 


if  iv    /i  O  Nf  N  Y  M  V  L  G  R  O  -C  ft  a 


Bonny-Mulgro  was  the  third  champion  sent  out  by  the  Turks  to  accept  Smith's  challenge. 
Three  TVRKS   ft^ads  in  a  banner  giuen  fiimj-or  Armfy  .  L  kip    •  ?  • 


• 
_ xivait  r'rjftitrd  h  Print f    i<lGI$rMVNDV.S  .   I   /«./;?  •   » 

Prince  Sigismundua  knighted  Captain  Smith  for  his  exploit  and  granted  him  a  coat,  < 
of  three  Turks'  heads,  presenting  him  with  a  banner  with  this  device  upon  it 

PICTURES  FROM  THE  HISTORY  OF  CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH'S  TRAVELS 
AMONG  THE  TURKS 


THE   CROWNING   OF   POWHATAN 

Among  the  gifts  which  Captain  Newport  brought  to  Chief  Powhatan  were  a  crown 
and  ermine  trimmed  scarlet  robe,  a  four-post  bedstead,  and  many  household  utensils 
such  as  had  never  before  been  seen  by  the  Indians. 


THE  STARVING  TIME  71 

Furthermore,  it  prevented  the  building  of  houses, 
clearing  of  land  and  planting  of  fields. 

There  was,  however,  another  side  to  the  story, 
and  Newport  did  his  best  to  point  it  out.  The 
London  merchants  had  expended  many  hundreds 
of  pounds  and  had  not  received  in  return  as  many 
shillings.  They  had  entered  the  business  as  a 
commercial  speculation.  The  Charter  required 
that  communal  work  should  be  done.  They  had  a 
right  to  demand  that  work. 

The  Second  Supply  had  been  able  to  bring  but 
a  small  amount  of  provisions.  The  long  sea  voyage 
had  consumed  a  large  proportion  of  the  food,  and 
enough  must  be  left  on  board  for  the  return  trip. 
Moreover,  as  each  supply  ship  also  brought  more 
colonists,  this  meant  more  mouths  to  feed. 

When  Newport  sailed  for  home  in  December, 
he  left  but  two  months'  food.  He  could  by  no 
means  return  with  more  supplies  under  twice  that 
length  of  time.  The  colony  was  once  more  fore- 
doomed to  starvation. 

Ratcliffe  returned  to  England  with  Newport, 
leaving  Smith  as  the  only  remaining  one  of  the 
original  six  councillors.  He  was  at  first  assisted 
by  Scrivener,  Waldo  and  Wynne.  The  first  two 
were  accidentally  drowned,  three  weeks  after  New- 
port's  departure,  and  Wynne  died  shortly  after. 
Smith  was  left  as  sole  ruler,  and  he  appointed  no 
more  councillors. 

Trouble  was  brewing  among  the  Indians.  The 
visits  of  Pocahontas  had  ceased,  the  natives  no 


72         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

longer  brought  supplies.    Trading  voyages  to  the 
York  River  resulted  only  in  a  few  bushels  of  corn. 

Smith  decided  upon  a  bold  move,  one  which 
almost  cost  him  his  life  and  the  lives  of  all  his 
men.  He  determined  to  threaten  Powhatan  into 
obedience.  He  all  but  failed.  Once  again,  it  was 
Pocahontas  who  saved  him. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  Smith  had  never 
told  Powhatan  that  the  white  men  were  coming 
to  settle  the  country.  He  dared  not.  On  the 
contrary,  his  first  story  had  been  that  the  English 
were  taking  refuge  from  the  Spaniards,  and  were 
only  waiting  until  "Father  Newport"  should  re- 
turn and  take  them  to  their  own  land. 

Since  then,  Newport  had  come  three  times,  on 
each  voyage  bringing  more  men.  The  colonists 
had  constantly  strengthened  their  fort  and  were 
trying  to  clear  more  land.  It  was  obvious  to  the 
Indians  that  the  white  men  intended  to  stay.  It 
was  equally  clear  that  they  were  a  sickly  breed, 
and,  besides,  were  poor  farmers  and  worse 
hunters. 

Powhatan  saw  clearly  that  if  he  wished  to  get 
rid  of  these  unwelcome  invaders,  all  that  was 
necessary  was  to  cease  supplying  them  with  food. 
Trading  almost  stopped.  The  redskins  would 
accept  nothing  but  weapons  in  return  for  corn. 

Shortly  after  Christmas,  Powhatan  sent  a  mes- 
senger, asking  for  the  help  of  white  men  who 
could  show  him  how  to  build  a  house  in  white 
man's  fashion,  and  promising  food  in  payment. 


THE  STARVING  TIME  73 

Smith  suspected  a  trap,  but,  at  least,  the  men  who 
went  would  be  fed,  and  those  who  remained  at 
the  fort  could  make  the  provisions  last  a  longer 
time. 

He  accepted  Powhatan  's  offer  and  sent  14  men. 
But,  a  few  days  later,  he  followed  with  27  men,  in 
the  pinnace  and  the  barge.  On  their  way  up  the 
river,  a  friendly  Indian  warned  them  that  Pow- 
hatan was  planning  treachery. 

In  spite  of  the  warning,  Smith  continued  on  his 
journey.  It  was  not  choice,  but  necessity.  Even 
on  short  rations,  the  food  in  the  fort  would  not 
last  a  month. 

Ignoring  all  precautions,  which  he  knew  would 
be  interpreted  as  a  sign  of  fear,  he  advanced  to 
the  war-chief 's  town  of  Werowocomoco  and  faced 
Powhatan  boldly. 

The  conference — the  full  details  of  which  are 
given  in  Smith's  own  narrative — was  a  keen  con- 
test of  wits.  Each  leader  suspected  the  other. 
Powhatan  accused  Smith  of  falsehood,  the  Eng- 
lishman retorted  that  the  Indians  had  broken 
their  oath  of  friendship. 

The  chief  sneered  that  the  white  men,  who 
claimed  to  be  so  clever,  were  compelled  to  depend 
for  their  food  on  the  charity  of  the  Indians ;  Smith 
retorted  that  the  English  had  means  of  getting 
food  in  ways  that  savages  could  not  understand, 
implying  magic  powers.  Seeing  that  this  hint 
of  sorcery  worried  the  aged  chief,  Smith  solemnly 


74         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

prophesied  that  the  day  the  whites  withdrew  their 
friendship,  ruin  would  fall  upon  the  tribe. 

Powhatan  appeared  to  give  way  and  decoyed 
Smith  and  one  comrade  into  a  small  hut.  In- 
stantly the  place  was  surrounded  with  armed 
braves,  but,  before  they  could  enter,  the  two  white 
men  leaped  out  with  drawn  swords  and  charged 
so  furiously  that  the  Indians  fled. 

This  maladroit  treachery  gave  Smith  a  moral 
advantage,  and  he  seized  it.  He  denounced  Pow- 
hatan for  a  coward  and  oath-breaker,  bullied  him 
before  his  own  sub-chiefs  and  braves,  and  by 
sheer  dominance  of  character  overbore  the  war- 
chief,  compelled  him  to  produce  corn  and  have  it 
loaded  in  the  barge. 

By  the  time  this  was  done,  the  tide  had  fallen 
and  the  boat  was  stranded.  There  was  nothing 
to  do  but  wait  for  high  tide.  The  Englishmen 
took  up  their  quarters  in  a  hut,  some  distance 
from  the  village  and  Smith  ordered  Powhatan  to 
send  them  food  for  their  evening  meal. 

There  was  a  long  delay,  and  the  white  men  got 
ready  for  the  worst.  "Then,"  as  Smith  tells  the 
story,  "then  that  dearest  jewel,  Pocahontas,  in 
that  dark  night  came  through  the  irksome  woods 
and  told  us  that  great  cheer  should  be  sent,  by 
and  by,  but  Powhatan  and  all  the  power  he  could 
make  would  come  afterward  and  kill  us  all,  if 
they  that  brought  the  food  did  not  kill  us  ... 
when  we  were  at  supper.  Therefore,  if  we  would 


THE  STARVING  TIME  75 

live,  she  wished  us  presently  (instantly)  to  be 
gone. 

"Such  things  as  she  delighted  in,  we  would 
have  given  her,  but,  with  the  tears  running  down 
her  cheeks,  she  said  she  durst  not  be  seen  to 
have  any,  for  if  Powhatan  should  know  it,  she 
were  dead ;  and  so  she  ran  away  by  herself  as  she 
came. ' ' 

An  hour  later,  a  dozen  powerful  braves 
appeared,  bringing  venison,  roasted  corn  and 
other  food.  There  was  little  doubt  that  others 
were  lurking  in  the  woods,  awaiting  a  signal. 

The  savages  found  the  white  men  obviously  on 
guard,  every  man  on  the  alert,  in  full  armor,  the 
matches  of  their  matchlocks  glowing.  And,  as 
the  Indians  were  leaving,  after  depositing  the  food 
on  the  floor  of  the  hut,  Smith  said  sternly  and 
with  threatening  emphasis, 

"If  Father  Powhatan  is  coming  to  visit  us 
to-night,  let  him  make  haste,  for  I  am  full  ready 
to  receive  him." 

To  the  Indians,  never  quite  sure  as  to  the 
magical  powers  of  the  white  men,  this  message 
was  menacing.  Smith's  knowledge  of  their  plans 
seemed  like  sorcery.  They  saw  that  they  could 
not  count  upon  the  advantage  of  surprise.  They 
did  not  dare  to  face  a  body  of  desperate  men, 
in  armor,  well  equipped  with  firearms  and  plenty 
of  ammunition. 

There  was  no  sleep  among  the  white  men  that 
night.  A  vigilant  guard  was  kept  at  every  point 


76         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

until  high  tide.  Then,  with  every  precaution 
against  surprise  that  Smith's  long  military  expe- 
rience could  suggest,  the  barge  got  away  with  300 
bushels  of  corn  on  board. 

Thus,  by  the  warning  of  Pocahontas,  a  massacre 
was  averted,  for  a  large  war-party  had  been  con- 
cealed near  the  fort,  to  storm  it  and  slay  every 
man,  woman  and  child  therein,  so  soon  as  a  swift 
runner  should  bring  news  of  the  destruction  of 
Smith  and  his  band. 

With  the  coming  of  spring,  the  colony  showed 
signs  of  prospering  under  Smith's  vigorous  rule. 
A  well  was  dug,  and,  for  the  first  time,  the  settlers 
had  good  drjnking  water.  Twenty  cabins  were 
built,  the  church  repaired,  forty  acres  of  land 
cleared  and  planted  with  corn. 

All  was  proceeding  smoothly,  when,  suddenly, 
the  terrible  discovery  was  made  that  rats  had  got 
into  the  casks  where  the  corn  was  stored.  Much 
of  it  had  been  eaten,  and  the  rest  had  been  so 
spoiled  by  the  rats  that  it  had  begun  to  rot.  In 
that  moist,  swampy  air,  the  rot  spread  rapidly. 
Amid  the  spring  rains,  it  could  not  be  spread  out 
to  dry.  Hardly  any  of  the  grain  was  fit  to  eat. 

From  hope  and  content,  the  colony  was  again 
plunged  into  despair.  With  Powhatan  an  enemy, 
no  Indian  supplies  could  be  secured.  The  crop 
would  not  be  ripe  for  several  months.  There  was 
no  knowing  when  another  supply  ship  would  come. 

In  this  urgency,  Smith  divided  the  colonists 
into  four  parties,  in  order  that  one  or  the  other 


THE  STARVING  TIME  77 

might  have  the  better  chance  of  surviving.  One 
party  took  copper  and  beads  and  was  sent  to  trade 
with  isolated  Indian  villages  who  might  have  a 
few  handfuls  of  corn  to  give;  this  party  might 
find  game  in  the  woods  or  could  live  on  berries  as 
soon  as  they  should  ripen.  A  second  party  was 
sent  to  the  oyster  banks;  these  men  suffered 
sorely,  for  the  exclusive  shell-fish  diet  produced  a 
fearful  skin  disease  in  which  the  skin  fell  from 
them  in  patches  "as  if  they  had  been  flayed."  A 
third  party  was  stationed  near  Old  Point  Com- 
fort to  live  on  such  fish  as  the  men  could  catch. 
The  fourth  party  acted  as  a  small  garrison  at  the 
fort  and  lived  on  famine  rations  of  the  scanty  food 
there  was  remaining. 

On  July  14,  1609,  the  fishers  at  Old  Point  Com- 
fort saw  a  ship  come  in.  She  was  under  the  com- 
mand of  Captain  Samuel  Argall,  and  carried  a 
supply  of  biscuit  and  wine,  enough  to  last  the 
colonists  for  one  month.  Argall  had  not  come  as 
the  commander  of  a  supply  ship.  He  had  been 
sent  to  try  a  shorter  and  more  direct  route  to 
Virginia  and  also  to  fish  for  sturgeon  in  the  James 
River. 

Argall  brought  news  no  less  important  than  the 
supplies.  He  informed  Smith  that  the  old  charter 
had  been  repealed,  that  the  Royal  Council  of  Vir- 
ginia had  been  abolished,  and  that  Lord  De  La 
Warr  (Delaware)  was  coming  at  the  head  of  an 
army  of  men  and  a  fleet  of  ships  as  the  sole  and 
absolute  governor  of  Virginia. 


78         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

This  news  was  correct  in  every  particular.  In- 
deed, by  the  time  Argall  reached  Virginia,  the 
great  fleet  was  already  within  a  week's  sail  of  the 
American  coast.  Never  did  so  large  a  supply 
expedition  so  nearly  attain  its  aims,  and  yet  result 
so  lamentably. 

The  disasters  on  the  James  River  had  been  the 
cause  of  the  change  of  colonization  plans.  The 
tales  of  Wingfield  and  Ratcliffe  and  the  letters 
of  Smith  had  disheartened  many  of  the  backers 
of  the  Company.  These  abandoned  the  project. 
Others  wished  to  continue,  but  on  a  different  basis. 
On  May  23,  1609,  a  new  charter  was  granted,  now 
generally  known  as  the  Second  Virginia  Charter. 

This  entirely  separated  the  James  River  colony 
from  any  relation  with  " North  Virginia."  It 
reduced  the  amount  of  territory,  confining  it  to 
200  miles  of  the  seacoast,  stretching  an  equal  dis- 
tance north  and  south  of  Old  Point  Comfort  and 
inland  as  far  as  the  South  Sea  (Pacific  Ocean). 
The  government  of  the  colony  passed  from  the 
control  of  a  Royal  Council  and  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  stockholders  of  the  company. 

The  two  leaders  were  admirably  chosen.  The 
treasurer,  who  controlled  affairs  in  England,  was 
Sir  Thomas  Smythe,  perhaps  the  finest  figure  of 
a  great  merchant  prince  that  early  England  pro- 
duced. The  governor,  in  supreme  control  in  the 
colony,  was  Thomas  West,  Lord  De  La  Warr, 
related  to  Queen  Elizabeth  and  a  staunch  pro- 
moter of  American  colonization.  Sir  Thomas 


THE  STARVING  TIME  79 

Gates,  a  sturdy  soldier,  was  made  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor; Sir  George  Somers,  a  fine  type  of  the 
Elizabethan  sea-dog  breed,  was  named  as  admiral. 

A  fleet  of  nine  large  vessels  was  put  under  the 
command  of  Newport,  and  Gates  and  Somers 
sailed  with  him  on  June  8, 1609,  in  his  flagship,  the 
Sea  Venture. 

Between  500  and  600  emigrants  were  included 
in  this  " Third  Supply,"  about  100  being  women 
and  children.  Most  of  these  had  been  lured  by 
false  promises.  Every  adventurer  who  subscribed 
a  small  sum  was  to  have  a  share  and  a  voice  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Company.  Every  emigrant  was 
promised  ample  food  and  clothing,  a  house, 
orchard,  garden  and  100  acres  of  land  for  himself 
and  each  member  of  the  family ;  skilled  tradesmen 
and  professional  men  were  to  be  allowed  a  great 
deal  more. 

It  seems  incredible  that  such  men  as  Newport, 
Ratcliffe  and  Archer — all  of  whom  knew  the  truth 
about  the  James  Eiver — could  have  permitted  and 
even  supported  such  a  tissue  of  misrepresenta- 
tion. Yet  they  did  so,  and  under  these  specious 
and  deliberate  lies,  thousands  of  pounds  were  sub- 
scribed and  hundreds  of  emigrants  volunteered. 

Lord  De  La  Warr,  who  had  at  first  purposed  to 
accompany  the  fleet,  remained  in  London  to  make 
further  plans  to  send  an  even  larger  number  of 
colonists  in  the  following  spring.  In  order  that 
there  should  be  no  disputes  over  leadership,  Gates 
was  given  "the  rights,  privileges  and  duties  of 


00         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

sole  and  absolute  governor"  until  Lord  De  La 
Warr  should  arrive. 

All  went  well  at  first.  The  fleet  took  the  Azores 
route.  It  was  not  a  week's  sail  off  the  American 
coast  when  a  whirling  West  Indian  hurricane 
swept  on  it  from  Cape  Hatteras.  One  of  the 
smaller  ships  was  sunk  with  all  on  board.  The 
other  vessels  were  scattered. 

The  Sea  Venture  suffered  terribly.  Her  timbers 
were  so  wrenched  and  strained  that  she  leaked  like 
a  sieve.  A  score  of  times  it  seemed  as  though 
nothing  could  keep  her  from  going  to  the  bottom. 
For  five  days,  the  crew  worked  in  relays,  pumping 
and  baling,  standing  in  water  to  their  waists. 
Jury-masts  were  rigged  on  which  scraps  of  sail 
could  be  hoisted. 

The  ship  was  kept  afloat  by  the  magnetic 
authority  and  the  indomitable  vigor  of  the  veteran 
Somers.  The  grizzled  admiral,  staunch  old  sea- 
dog  that  he  was,  never  left  the  quarter-deck  for 
three  days  and  three  nights. 

At  length  land  was  sighted  and  the  Sea  Venture 
was  driven  for  the  shore.  So  cleverly  was  she 
handled  by  Somers  that  the  vessel  was  run  in 
and  wedged  immovably  between  two  rocks.  Every 
soul  aboard  was  saved,  and  most  of  the  cargo  and 
gear  was  salvaged.  The  island  was  found  to  be 
uninhabited,  save  by  wild  pigs,  a  proof  that,  at 
one  time,  Europeans  must  have  landed  there. 
With  their  ship  a  complete  wreck,  the  leaders  of 
the  new  colony  were  marooned. 


THE  STARVING  TIME  81 

On  August  11,  1609,  four  ships  of  Gates'  fleet- 
but  without  Gates,  Newport  or  Somers — stag- 
gered into  Hampton  Roads.  Three  other  vessels 
arrived  a  few  days  later.  About  350  colonists 
were  landed,  many  of  them  ill  of  the  "London 
Plague."  It  was  the  malarial  season  in  Virginia. 
The  provisions  brought  by  the  ships  had  been 
badly  spoiled  by  sea-water.  Instead  of  relieving 
the  situation  on  the  James  River,  the  coming  of 
the  "Third  Supply"  made  it  infinitely  worse. 

Matters  were  bad  enough.  Some  70  or  80  per- 
sons were  alive,  all  dispersed  into  various  parties 
and  starving.  Some  were  at  the  oyster-beds, 
dying  slowly  of  "shell-fish  leprosy."  Some  were 
eking  out  a  miserable  existence  in  the  woods  with 
berries  and  an  occasional  rabbit  as  their  sole  sup- 
port. Some  were  little  better  than  slaves  to  the 
Indians.  Only  a  handful  of  emaciated  men 
remained  at  the  fort. 

The  non-arrival  of  Gates,  the  only  man  with 
authority  to  rule,  renewed  the  civil  strife  which 
had  cursed  the  James  River  colony  from  the  start. 
Smith's  enemies,  Ratcliffe,  Archer  and  Martin, 
had  come  in  command  of  three  of  the  vessels  of 
the  fleet.  Since  their  new  authority  came  directly 
from  the  hands  of  Lord  De  La  Warr,  they 
promptly  joined  forces  against  Smith. 

Ratcliffe  peremptorily  ordered  Smith  to  abdi- 
cate in  his  favor.  Smith  refused,  point  blank,  and 
swore  that  he  would  yield  his  authority  to  no  one 
except  Lord  De  La  Warr,  Gates  or  some  one  duly 


82          THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

appointed  as  governor  by  either.  The  old  colo- 
nists and  most  of  the  sailors  supported  Smith,  the 
new  colonists  were  on  the  side  of  Ratcliffe.  Civil 
war  was  about  to  break  out  when  Smith  arrested 
Ratcliffe  and  put  him  in  irons  as  a  disturber  of 
the  peace. 

While  the  corn  crop  would  soon  ripen,  there  was 
but  little  to  feed  the  hundreds  of  inexpert  and 
plague-stricken  colonists  brought  over  by  the 
Third  Supply.  It  was  again  necessary  to  divide 
the  settlers  into  three  parties,  one  going  to  Nan- 
semond,  one  to  Powhatan  Falls,  the  third,  with 
the  women  and  children,  remaining  at  Jamestown. 

The  Nansemond  and  the  Powhatan  Falls  set- 
tlements were  attacked  by  Indians.  The  former 
was  withdrawn  to  Jamestown.  While  making 
peace  at  Powhatan  Falls,  Smith  surveyed  and 
bought  from  the  Indians  a  tract  of  land  near  the 
present  site  of  Richmond.  This  place,  which  he 
called  "None-Such,"  was  on  a  range  of  hills, 
healthful  and  easy  of  defense,  thousandfold  bet- 
ter than  the  marsh  on  which  Jamestown  was  built. 

The  culminating  disaster  was  to  come.  On  his 
way  back  from  * '  None-Such, ' '  Smith  was  seriously 
wounded  by  the  explosion  of  a  bag  of  gunpowder 
in  the  boat.  He  reached  Jamestown  completely 
disabled. 

Immediately  his  enemies,  with  Archer  at  the 
head,  took  occasion  to  spread  all  sorts  of  scur- 
rilous stories  against  him.  Some  declared  that 
he  led  men  into  danger  that  they  might  be  killed 


THE  STARVING  TIME  83 

to  enable  the  provisions  to  last  longer;  others 
asserted  that  he  whipped  and  imprisoned  men 
whose  only  fault  was  that  they  dared  to  withstand 
his  orders  (a  curious  manner  of  excusing 
mutiny) ;  those  who  had  suffered  on  the  oyster 
banks  blamed  him  for  their  diseases ;  many  blamed 
him  for  not  having  married  Pocahontas  (although 
she  was  not  yet  fifteen  years  of  age)  and  thus 
having  a  hostage  for  the  Indians. 

Amid  such  rivalry  and  hate  as  existed  at  James- 
town, it  is  difficult  to  be  sure  of  the  exact  truth. 
All  narratives  are  partisan  and  contradictory. 
The  writers  did  not  mince  their  words.  Undoubt- 
edly Smith  was  something  of  a  braggart,  admit- 
tedly he  dealt  with  military  harshness.  But  that 
he  saved  Jamestown  on  several  occasions,  not 
even  his  foes  could  deny.  When  he  sailed  for 
England,  a  disabled  man,  early  in  October,  George 
Percy  had  been  chosen  as  the  new  President. 

What  Smith  did  for  Virginia  was  told  in  the 
official  proceedings,  written  by  the  colony-mer- 
chant, the  surgeon  and  others,  and  published  in 
1612.  Of  Smith's  departure,  this  historical  record 
states : 

"What  shall  I  say,  but  thus  we  lost  him  that,  in 
all  his  proceedings,  made  justice  his  first  good, 
and  experience  his  second;  ever  hating  baseness, 
sloth,  pride  and  indignity  more  than  any  dangers ; 
that  never  allowed  more  for  himself  than  his 
soldiers  with  him;  that  upon  no  danger  would 
send  them  where  he  would  not  lead  them  himself ; 


84         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

that  would  never  see  us  want  what  he  either  had 
or  could  by  any  means  get  us ;  that  would  rather 
want  than  borrow,  or  starve  than  not  pay;  that 
loved  actions  more  than  words  and  hated  false- 
hood and  cozenage  [cheating]  worse  than  death; 
whose  adventures  were  our  lives,  and  whose  loss 
our  deaths." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find,  in  all  history,  a 
higher  paean  of  praise  than  this ! 

Never  were  truer  words  written  than  "his  loss 
our  deaths."  Smith's  departure  was  a  signal  of 
doom.  Percy,  the  new  President,  was  a  man  of 
unblemished  character,  but  he  was  not  of  the 
heroic  mold  of  which  great  pioneers  are  made. 

Moreover,  his  task  was  an  impossible  one. 
There  were  now  nearly  500  mouths  to  fill,  and 
there  was  not  much  food  with  which  to  fill  them. 
The  well  which  had  been  dug  by  Smith  and  which 
gave  water  enough  for  a  few  settlers  was  useless 
for  so  many.  They  must  needs  return  to  drinking 
the  disease-breeding  river  water.  Dysentery 
broke  out  in  its  most  violent  form. 

The  vicious  principle  of  communism,  whereby 
idlers  shared  equally  with  workers,  and  which 
had  been  held  in  check  by  the  autocracy  of  Smith, 
now  bore  its  evil  fruit.  The  older  settlers,  who 
had  struggled  so  long  and  so  bitterly,  found  them- 
selves swamped  by  this  new  flood  of  feeble  for- 
tune-seekers. The  new  colonists,  utterly  disheart- 
ened, would  not  work,  nor  would  they  have  known 


THE  STARVING  TIME  85 

how  to  do  so.  Percy  had  no  power ;  he  lay  help- 
less, so  ill  that  "he  could  neither  go  nor  stand." 

The  Indians  who  had  been  held  back  by  their 
fear  of  Smith  now  broke  into  open  defiance.  They 
"did  murder  and  spoil  all  they  could  encounter." 
Instead  of  trying  to  heal  the  breach,  "the  unruly 
gallants  among  the  new  arrivals  commenced  to 
shoot  savages  for  sport." 

The  Indians  were  not  slow  to  answer.  Rat- 
cliff  e  and  thirty  men  were  massacred  at  a  Pamun- 
key  village  and  a  party  under  the  command  of 
Francis  West,  brother  of  Lord  De  La  Warr,  was 
cut  to  pieces,  West  barely  escaping  with  his  life. 
The  Indians  killed  most  of  the  settlers'  hogs, 
sheep  and  fowls,  which  had  been  brought  in  the 
Third  Supply,  in  order  that  the  white  men  should 
have  no  food. 

The  winter  came  cruelly,  with  raw  winds  and 
wet  snow.  Any  man  who  left  the  fort  in  quest 
of  firewood  was  likely  to  leave  his  body  in  the 
woods,  with  an  Indian  arrow  in  the  joints  of  his 
armor  or  even  a  musket  bullet.  In  their  distress, 
the  colonists  had  begun  to  exchange  firearms  for 
food,  a  thing  Smith  had  never  permitted. 

Scores  died  from  cold.  As  each  cabin  was 
emptied  by  death,  it  was  pulled  down  and  used 
for  firewood.  Driven  to  desperation  by  the 
scarcity  of  fuel  inside  and  the  lurking  death  out- 
side, reckless  settlers  stripped  the  palisadoes  for 
firewood  and  pulled  down  the  logs  of  the  fort 
wall.  As  the  barrier  weakened,  ever  and  anon  a 


86         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

flight  of  arrows  would  sweep  over  and  through 
the  fort,  to  remind  the  white  men  that  the  Indians 
were  watching  them  die  like  rats  in  a  trap. 

Spring  brought  no  relief.  To  the  misery  of 
cold  succeeded  the  horror  of  famine,  the  worst 
that  the  James  Eiver  colony  had  ever  known,  for 
now  there  was  no  John  Smith  to  help  them.  There 
was  fish  in  the  rivers  and  game  in  the  woods,  but 
war-canoes  waited  on  the  water  and  ambush- 
parties  lurked  in  the  forests. 

Finally  the  last  grain  of  corn  was  eaten,  the 
last  biscuit  gone.  The  survivors  tried  to  live  on 
roots  and  herbs,  going  freely  into  the  woods,  not 
caring  much  whether  an  Indian  arrow  should  give 
them  release  from  the  tortures  of  hunger. 

Cannibalism  began.  The  corpse  of  an  Indian 
was  boiled  publicly  and  eaten.  The  awful  mad- 
ness spread.  Delirious  with  hunger,  the  survivors 
ate  of  their  dead  comrades,  whether  they  had 
died  of  disease  or  no.  One  man  killed  his  wife, 
salted  her  flesh  and  had  lived  thereon  for  three 
weeks  before  he  was  found  out. 

Even  in  their  terrible  state,  the  decency  of  the 
remaining  colonists  revolted  at  this  inhuman 
crime..  The  man  was  tried,  found  guilty  and 
burned  alive.  Other  happenings,  not  less  terrible, 
are  recorded  of  those  dark  months  known  to  his- 
tory as  "The  Starving  Time." 

Meantime,  a  thousand  miles  away,  on  that 
uninhabited  group  of  islets  then  marked  on  the 
charts  as  the  '  *  Isles  of  Demons ' '  but  now  known 


THE  STARVING  TIME  87 

as  the  Bermuda  Islands,  the  marooned  leaders  of 
the  James  River  colony  worked  with  might  and 
main.  The  islands  were  fruitful  and  healthful. 

Gates,  Somers  and  Newport  ruled  their  little 
colony  of  the  survivors  of  the  Sea  Venture  with 
prudence  and  industry.  From  the  small-sized 
cedars  which  grew  on  the  islands,  they  built  two 
small  pinnaces,  which  they  called  the  Patience  and 
the  Deliverance.  For  ironwork  they  were  depend- 
ent on  scraps  from  the  wreck. 

Not  knowing  whether  the  pinnaces  would  be 
seaworthy,  Gates  allowed  the  use  of  but  a  small 
part  of  the  provisions  saved  from  the  Sea  Ven- 
ture. Fruit  was  plentiful.  The  castaways  laid 
in  ample  supplies  of  salted  pork  from  the  wild 
pigs  and  an  abundance  of  smoked  fish.  For  ten 
months  they  lived  there,  busily  and  happily. 

When,  at  last,  the  two  pinnaces  set  sail  from 
Bermuda,  the  150  colonists  had  learned  pioneering 
and  discipline;  more  important  still,  they  pos- 
sessed confidence  in  their  leaders.  In  their  small, 
home-made  craft,  they  crossed  the  Gulf  Stream 
without  mishap  and  reached  Jamestown  on  May 
10,  1610. 

Sixty  creatures,  men,  women  and  children,  all 
with  a  gleam  of  madness  in  their  eyes,  tottered 
through  the  gaps  in  the  tumble-down  fort  wall  to 
greet  their  Governor. 

The  rest  were  dead. 

Of  the  survivors,  eight  died  while  trying  to 
swallow  the  first  mouthful  of  food.  In  the  remain- 


88          THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

ing  fifty-two  the  spark  of  life  burned  so  feebly 
that,  even  with  care  and  good  food,  it  would  be 
weeks  before  these  haggard  semblances  of  human- 
ity would  be  able  to  help  themselves. 

Again  the  food  question  rose  uppermost.  The 
pinnaces  had  brought  food,  more  than  enough  for 
their  voyage,  but  the  colonists  who  had  been 
marooned  on  the  Bermudas  had  expected  to  find 
a  flourishing  town  on  the  James  River  and  all 
their  fellow-settlers  well  established  on  the  prom- 
ised farms.  They  found  nothing.  Not  a  field  had 
been  planted.  The  salted  pork  and  the  smoked 
fish  would  hardly  last  a  month. 

Smitten  with  the  misery  and  the  pity  of  it  all, 
Gates,  Somers  and  Newport — great  men,  all  three 
— decided  that  Virginia  must  be  abandoned.  Not 
counting  the  150  men  of  the  Sea  Venture,  over 
700  people  had  been  landed  on  the  Virginia  shore ; 
of  these,  only  52  human  wrecks  remained.  Not 
a  house,  a  fort  nor  a  planted  field  remained  to 
compensate  for  three  years  of  bitter  suffering,  and 
the  Indians  had  been  rendered  hostile. 

The  abandonment  was  begun.  The  ruined 
cabins  were  stripped  of  what  few  things  remained, 
the  survivors  were  helped  or  carried  on  board  the 
pinnaces.  On  June  7,  1610,  the  Virginia  (Smith's 
pinnace),  the  Patience  and  the  Deliverance  floated 
down  that  somber  and  hated  stream — the  James 
River.  The  settlers  bivouacked  that  night  on  Mul- 
berry Island  and  resumed  the  voyage  with  the 
next  dawn. 


89 

Just  at  noon,  cries  of  joy  and  incredulity 
mingled,  broke  out  from  the  leading  pinnace.  A 
longboat  was  seen  approaching,  an  English  long- 
boat on  those  overhung  and  sluggish  waters!  It 
.bore  the  most  welcome  of  all  welcome  news — 
that  Lord  De  La  Warr  had  arrived  with  a  well- 
provisioned  fleet,  and,  even  now,  was  standing  into 
the  harbor. 

Gone  was  every  idea  of  abandoning  Virginia! 
Even  the  wan  ghosts  who  lay  in  the  pinnaces  and 
who  represented  all  that  remained  of  British  effort 
in  America,  raised  a  feeble  echo  to  the  cheer. 

The  prows  of  the  pinnaces  were  turned  up- 
stream again.  The  150  colonists  of  the  Sea  Ven- 
ture, who  had  worked  so  faithfully  in  the  Bermu- 
das, now  saw  the  fruits  of  their  toil.  Jamestown 
was  soon  reached,  and,  in  a  fever  of  haste,  the 
new-comers  commenced  to  patch  up  the  cabins 
and  to  remove  some  of  the  manifold  evidences  of 
despair. 

The  Sunday  following,  Lord  De  La  Warr  came 
in  person,  and,  so  the  record  runs,  the  most  hard- 
ened of  the  soldiers  with  him  sobbed  at  the  spec- 
tacle of  misery  that  met  their  eyes.  The  three 
great  captains,  Gates,  Somers  and  Newport,  stood 
to  attention,  while  Lord  De  La  Warr,  kneeling  in 
that  misery-bedewed  fort  enclosure,  offered  up  his 
heartfelt  thanks  that  he  had  not  come  too  late, 
that  he  had  arrived  in  time  to  save  Virginia. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  LAND  OP  TOBACCO 

A  new  spirit  arose  in  Virginia — the  spirit  of 
discipline.  De  La  Warr's  authority  could  not  be 
disputed,  Gates  brooked  no  trifling.  Yet  three 
hindrances  to  success  remained :  scarcity  of  food, 
Indian  hostility  and  the  unhealthfulness  of  the 
site  of  Jamestown. 

Lord  De  "La  Warr  lost  no  time  in  dealing  with 
the  food  situation.  Having  learned  from  Somers 
how  near  were  the  pig-populated  Bermudas,  he 
sent  the  admiral  and  Argall  in  the  two  home-made 
pinnaces  for  cargoes  of  salted  pork  and  some  score 
of  live  animals  for  breeding. 

The  Bermudas,  however,  were  not  known  as 
"the  vexed  Bermoothes"  and  the  "Isles  of 
Demons"  for  nothing.  When  halfway  across  the 
Gulf  Stream,  a  West  Indian  hurricane  came  howl- 
ing up  past  Cape  Fear  and  separated  the  rudely 
constructed  pinnaces. 

Somers,  a  veteran  sailor,  succeeded  in  beating 
back  to  the  Bermudas,  but  was  taken  ill  soon  after 
landing  and  perished  there.  His  dying  injunc- 
tions to  his  crew  were  that  they  should  fulfill  Lord 
De  La  Warr's  orders  and  return  to  Virginia.  But 

90 


THE  LAND  OF  TOBACCO  91 

the  sailors,  misliking  the  conditions  on  the  James 
River  and  having  a  fair  wind  for  England,  sailed 
home,  taking  the  body  of  their  commander  with 
them. 

Argall,  in  the  smaller  pinnace,  had  rnn  north- 
wards before  the  hurricane.  When  it  abated,  he 
was  off  the  coast  of  Maine.  There  he  took  on 
fresh  water,  and,  finding  the  cod-fishing  quick  and 
easy,  decided  to  stock  a  cargo  of  salt  fish  instead 
of  losing  time  in  sailing  to  the  Bermudas  for 
pork. 

On  his  way  back,  entering  Chesapeake  Bay,  he 
sailed  up  the  Potomac  River,  trading  with  the 
Indians  and  receiving  as  much  corn  as  he  could 
carry.  This  trading  was  made  possible  by  the 
aid  of  Harry  Spelman,  an  English  boy  who  had 
been  left  with  the  Indians  a  year  before  and  who 
had  been  saved  "from  the  fury  of  Powhatan"  by 
his  friendship  with  some  of  the  Potomac  tribes. 

These  supplies  of  fish  and  corn  were  welcome, 
but  Argall 's  pinnace  was  small.  Somers  did  not 
return.  No  more  supply  ships  were  to  be  expected 
from  England  that  season. 

In  this  difficulty,  Lord  De  La  Warr's  energy 
showed  to  good  advantage.  He  bade  the  settlers 
collect  and  dry  berries  in  large  numbers.  He 
established  parties  of  hunters  and  laid  in  store 
of  dried  venison.  He  kept  a  number  of  small 
boats  fishing  near  the  mouth  of  the  Charles  River. 
In  spite  of  the  lateness  of  his  arrival,  he  managed 
to  get  eleven  acres  of  land  planted  with  corn. 


92         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Then  the  Lord  Governor  took  up  the  question 
of  Indian  warfare.  He  offered  peace.  Powhatan 
answered  insolently  that  he  would  not  consider 
any  terms  until  Lord  De  La  Warr  sent  him  a 
coach  and  three  horses  and  guaranteed  that  the 
English  should  not  occupy  land  outside  of  the 
peninsula  of  Jamestown. 

Although  humane,  Lord  De  La  Warr  was  not 
weak.  Ignoring  further  parley,  he  ordered  Gates 
to  attack  Pochins,  the  son  of  Powhatan,  and  to 
drive  him  from  his  stronghold  at  Kecoughtan. 
Gates  did  so  with  such  speed  and  thoroughness 
that  Powhatan  was  cowed.  The  war-chief  realized 
that  he  had  no  chance  against  his  white  foes, 
unless  the  latter  were  weakened  by  hunger. 

Famine  and  Indian  hostility  were  thus  checked. 
Malaria  proved  a  more  stubborn  foe.  Though 
new  wells  were  dug,  the  swampy  soil  had  little 
filtering  quality  and  dysentery  again  spread 
through  the  settlement.  In  spite  of  all  precau- 
tions, 150  persons  died  in  five  months  from  these 
two  diseases  alone.  Garrisons  at  Fort  Henry  and 
Fort  Charles  suffered  less  heavily. 

When  autumn  came,  Newport  went  back  to 
England.  Gates  accompanied  him,  to  report  to 
the  Company  the  exact  state  of  affairs  in  Virginia 
and  to  urge  a  speedy  sending  of  more  supplies. 

When  the  ships  had  left,  the  outlying  garrisons 
were  withdrawn.  The  colonists  at  Jamestown 
were  again  reduced  to  200  persons,  men,  women 
and  children.  Although  aMe-bodied  men  were 


THE  LAND  OF  TOBACCO  93 

few,  Lord  De  La  Warr — to  make  good  his  promise 
to  the  Company — sent  a  party  to  the  Falls  of  the 
James  River  in  search  of  a  gold-mine.  The  expe- 
dition proved  disastrous.  Several  of  the  men  were 
killed  by  Indians.  The  ore  that  was  found  proved 
worthless. 

Winter  put  an  end  to  the  epidemic  of  malaria. 
As  cabins  had  been  built  and  plenty  of  fuel  cut, 
deaths  from  exposure  were  fewer  than  in  any 
preceding  winter.  The  strain,  however,  had  be- 
come too  great  for  the  Lord  Governor,  who  had 
been  ill  most  of  the  summer,  and  who  was  at  the 
point  of  death  during  the  winter.  Despite  his 
sickness  he  labored  gallantly,  and,  from  his  bed, 
maintained  discipline  and  authority. 

When  Lord  De  La  Warr  sailed  for  England,  on 
March  28, 1611,  hardly  expecting  to  reach  his  home 
alive,  he  left  full  three  months'  provisions  and  a 
large  amount  of  ground  prepared  and  manured, 
ready  for  planting.  George  Percy  was  appointed 
Deputy  Governor  until  Gates  should  return  with 
supplies,  which  were  expected  a  few  weeks  later. 

Gates  had  met  with  difficulties  in  England.  The 
truth  about  Virginia  was  becoming  known.  Money 
was  subscribed  unwillingly  and  emigrants  were 
even  harder  to  find.  Fewer  gentlemen  volun- 
teered, and,  as  Smith  had  pointed  out,  the  knights 
and  gentlemen  had  been  willing  to  face  hardship 
when  the  artisans  and  laborers  skulked.  Gates 
remained  in  England  to  arrange  for  a  further 
shipment  and  to  try  and  induce  more  worthy  set- 


94   i      THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

tiers  to  emigrate.  But,  knowing  the  needs  of 
Jamestown,  he  sent  three  supply  ships  with  300 
colonists  under  the  command  of  Sir  Thomas  Dale, 
who  was  famous  for  his  severity  as  a  disciplin- 
arian. 

The  reputation  was  deserved.  Dale  knew  that 
he  had  been  appointed  as  High  Marshal  of  Vir- 
ginia because  of  his  ability  to  keep  order  under 
the  roughest  and  most  mutinous  conditions.  He 
established  martial  law  immediately  upon  his 
arrival  in  May,  1611,  and  handled  the  colony  for 
five  years  as  though  the  men  under  his  charge  were 
convicts,  instead  of  voluntary  emigrants. 

Dale's  policy  was  clean-cut.  He  was  an 
appointee  of  the  Company,  and,  as  a  soldier,  he 
was  ready  to  carry  out  its  .orders.  The  Company 
came  first;  the  colony,  afterwards.  In  this  atti- 
tude he  was  the  direct  opposite  of  Captain  John 
Smith,  who  was  eager  for  the  interests  of  the 
colony  and  inclined  toward  insubordination  to  the 
London  backers  of  Virginia. 

Under  Dale,  the  colonists  were  driven  at  forced 
labor  for  long  hours  on  a  scanty  diet.  The  laws 
were  terribly  severe.  Death  was  the  punishment 
for  criticizing  the  administration  of  the  colony  or 
for  unauthorized  trading  with  the  Indians.  Lazi- 
ness was  punished  at  the  whipping  post,  and  con- 
tinued refusal  to  work  was  held  sufficient  cause 
for  torture,  or  even  death. 

Harshness  breeds  resentment  and  conspiracy. 
A  plot  arose  under  Jeffrey  Abbott,  a  friend  of 


THE    BAPTISM    OF    POCAHONTAS 

Among  the  great  historical  paintings  in 
the  Rotunda  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington 
is  this  painting  of  the  scene  of  the  baptism 
of  Pocahontas,  under  the  name  of  Rebecca. 
She  married  John  Rolfe,  who  is  therefore 
the  original  Squaw-man  of  American 
history,  and  went  to  England,  living  there 
for  several  years,  dying  in  1617  on  the  eve 
of  her  departure  for  America.  The  picture 
of  her  and  her  son  is  believed  to  have  been 
painted  from  life  and  probably  was,  as  it 
shows  very  distinctly  the  prominent  facial 
characteristics  of  the  Indian. 


THE   LOCATION    OF    THE    EARLY   COLONIAL    SETTLEMENTS 

This  map  shows  the  settlements  of  Roanoke  Island,  Croatoan,  Jamestown,  St.  Mary 
and  Kent  Island.  The  shadowed  strip  of  country  along  the  coast  shows  the  grant 
made  by  King  James  which  was  the  basis  of  settlement  of  all  expeditions  afti-r  160 


THE  LAND  OF  TOBACCO  95 

John  Smith,  an  excellent  soldier  and  a  hardy 
pioneer.  He  resented  the  autocracy  of  a  Lord 
Governor.  He  sought  no  less  than  the  overthrow 
of  Dale,  Gates  and  De  La  Warr,  and  the  restora- 
tion of  the  old  plan.  The  conspiracy  was  found 
out  and  the  ringleaders  seized,  Abbott  among 
them.  Some  were  shot,  others  hanged,  and  one, 
broken  on  the  wheel. 

Desertion  met  an  equally  swift  fate.  Fifteen 
men,  who  had  seized  one  of  the  pinnaces  with  the 
intention  of  escaping  to  England,  were  caught; 
four  of  the  men  were  hanged  and  the  others  con- 
demned to  hard  labor.  "Hanged  men,"  Dale  was 
said  to  have  remarked,  grimly,  "eat  less  than  pris- 
oners." But  Dale  was  just.  Even  Alexander 
Whitaker,  the  gentle  "Apostle  of  Virginia,"  did 
not  blame  this  martial  rule.  No  man  was  con- 
demned without  a  fair  and  impartial  trial. 

The  High  Marshal  did  not  spare  himself.  He 
was  a  daring  and  a  gallant  soldier  and  was  always 
at  the  head  of  his  men  when  there  was  Indian 
fighting  to  be  done.  All  along  the  James  and  the 
York  Rivers,  he  terrorized  the  tribes.  In  such 
matters  he  knew  no  mercy.  There  would  be  no 
second  savage  uprising,  where  once  Dale  had  trod. 

Nevertheless,  Dale  was  as  clear-headed  as  he 
was  stern.  In  two  respects,  at  least,  he  showed 
far-sighted  wisdom.  He  determined  to  make  the 
colony  pay,  for,  if  it  did  so,  there  would  be  no 
difficulty  in  getting  supplies.  He  determined  also 
to  get  rid  of  the  noxious  weed  of  communism, 


96         THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

which  had  been  a  source  of  disaster  ever  since 
the  first  landing  on  the  shores  of  the  James  River. 

When  a  man  had  no  personal  profit  from  his 
work,  and  toiled  only  under  the  whip,  Dale  de- 
clared, his  unwilling  labor  was  slow  and  spiritless. 
With  one  stroke,  the  High  Marshal  changed  all 
this.  He  gave  three  acres  of  land  to  each  farmer 
colonist,  on  the  condition  of  paying  six  bushels 
of  corn  annually  into  the  public  granary.  Another 
class,  known  as  laborer  colonists,  had  less  land 
and  gave  more  work  to  the  community,  but  paid  no 
tax  on  their  harvest  and  were  entitled  to  a  larger 
share  of  the  communal  supplies. 

From  discontented  members  of  a  communism 
which  had  brought  nothing  but  misgovernment 
and  starvation,  the  Jamestown  settlers  became 
small  landed  proprietors.  For  the  first  time,  they 
had  an  interest  in  their  colony,  they  were  working 
for  their  own  homes.  The  plan  developed  slowly, 
but  it  changed  the  aspect  of  affairs  in  Virginia 
and  prepared  the  way  for  the  self-government 
soon  to  be  established. 

Dale  also  secured  an  alliance  with  the  Indians. 
Strange  to  say,  it  was  achieved  through  the  kid- 
naping of  Pocahontas.  The  story  is  a  curious  one, 
and  throws  another  side-light  on  Indian  customs. 

In  April,  1613,  Argall  paid  another  visit  to  his 
friends,  the  Potomac  Indians.  Among  them,  to 
his  surprise,  he  found  Pocahontas.  She  had  been 
married  to  an  Indian  chief,  but  was  eager  to  break 
the  tie.  The  husband  also  was  willing  and  his 


THE  LAND  OF  TOBACCO  97 

willingness  was  sufficient  in  itself  to  break  the 
marriage. 

Indian  etiquette,  however,  required  that  the 
young  wife  should  be  captured,  in  which  case  no 
reproach  rested  upon  the  husband.  One  of  the 
minor  chiefs  of  the  Potomacs  agreed  to  assist  in 
the  formality  and  helped  Argall  to  abduct  Poca- 
hontas,  entirely  with  her  own  approval.  The 
young  English  lad,  Harry  Spelman,  also  went  to 
Jamestown  with  Argall,  and  was  for  many  years 
the  interpreter  for  the  colony. 

In  this  abduction,  Argall  seems  to  have  had  two 
motives.  The  first  of  these  was  to  hold  Poca- 
hontas  as  a  hostage  for  Powhatan's  good  behavior. 
The  second  was  friendliness  both  to  Pocahontas 
and  to  the  Potomacs,  for  the  latter  were  open  to 
the  war-chief's  displeasure  so  long  as  they  har- 
bored the  fugitive  wife.  Dale  saw  immediately  the 
mili tary  advantage  of  retaining  the  chief 's  daugh- 
ter as  a  hostage,  and  he  refrained  from  pushing 
the  campaign  against  Powhatan  which  he  had 
planned  for  the  winter  of  1613—1614. 

During  this  winter,  an  entirely  new  turn  was 
given  to  the  Pocahontas  romance. 

Among  the  ablest  of  the  colonists  at  Jamestown 
was  John  Rolfe,  who,  with  his  wife,  had  sailed 
on  the  Sea  Venture,  and  had  been  one  of  the  most 
energetic  of  the  workers  at  Bermuda.  While  there, 
his  little  daughter,  Bermuda  Rolfe,  was  born,  but 
she  did  not  long  survive.  Mrs.  Eolfe  had  sue- 


98 

combed  to  the  pestilential  climate  of  Jamestown, 
and  had  died  soon  after  reaching  Virginia. 

Rolf  e,  a  lonely  widower,  took  a  strong  liking  to 
Pocahontas,  which  ripened  into  affection  as  he 
came  to  know  the  Indian  girl  better.  On  her  part, 
Powhatan's  daughter  greatly  admired  Eolfe, 
whose  grave  manners  contrasted  favorably  with 
the  familiarity  of  the  younger  gallants  who  had 
recently  come  from  England.  Pocahontas  was 
easily  converted  to  Christianity,  and,  shortly  after 
her  christening,  her  betrothal  to  Rolfe  was  an- 
nounced. 

Dale,  like  a  prudent  leader,  at  once  seized  the 
happy  occasion  to  renew  the  alliance  with  Pow- 
hatan.  The  aged  war-chief,  well  aware  that  the 
white  men  had  planned  an  attack  upon  Werowoco- 
moco,  was  only  too  glad  to  escape  battle  with  so 
superior  a  foe.  He  accepted  the  alliance  and  for- 
mally announced  that  Pocahontas'  divorce  was 
final,  under  Indian  law.  The  marriage  of  Rolfe 
and  Pocahontas  was  solemnized  in  the  church  at 
Jamestown,  in  April,  1614,  in  the  presence  of  the 
white  leaders  and  many  Indian  chiefs. 

During  these  five  years  of  Dale's  stern  rule, 
Gates  had  been  active.  He  visited  Virginia  twice 
and  kept  up  a  steady  stream  of  supplies  and  emi- 
grants. This  he  was  enabled  to  do  through  the 
success  of  Dale's  slave-driving  policy. 

Presently,  however,  partly  because  of  royal  dis- 
favor and  because  of  the  heavy  death-rate  in  the 
colony,  financial  support  weakened.  In  1615,  it 


THE  LAND  OF  TOBACCO  99 

was  necessary  to  conduct  a  lottery  in  order  to 
make  up  the  deficit  caused  by  the  withdrawal  of 
subscriptions.  Dale's  rigors,  too,  had  given  rise 
to  unceasing  complaints. 

In  May,  1616,  Captain  George  Yeardley,  then 
in  Virginia,  was  appointed  to  succeed  Gates  as 
Deputy  Governor.  This  took  the  supreme  power 
out  of  the  hands  of  Dale.  The  High  Marshal  left 
at  once  for  England,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
the  colonists  were  glad  to  see  him  go. 

Yet  Dale  had  accomplished  much.  The  Indians 
had  been  kept  in  submission,  mutiny  had  ceased, 
strong  forts  had  been  built,  hundreds  of  acres 
cleared  and  scores  of  colonial  farms  were  self-sup- 
porting. But  the  High  Marshal,  like  his  prede- 
cessors, had  no  power  over  the  climate.  Of  the 
more  than  a  thousand  people  who  had  come  during 
his  rule,  there  were  but  351  alive  when  he  sailed 
for  home. 

An  interesting  passenger  also  was  on  board. 
This  was  Pocahontas,  who,  with  her  husband, 
John  Kolfe,  was  on  her  way  to  England.  Owing 
to  the  misunderstood  idea  of  Powhatan's  impor- 
tance (he  had  been  named  " Emperor"  and 
crowned  by  John  Smith  at  the  insistence  of  the 
Company)  the  young  Indian  wife  was  acclaimed 
as  a  Princess,  and  was  presented  at  court  by  Lady 
De  La  Warr.  She  was  the  sensation  of  London 
and  was  enormously  feted,  being  known  as  "La 
Belle  Sauvage." 

All  was  ready  for  her  return  to  her  native  coun- 


100        THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

try  the  following  year,  but  she  died  suddenly,  just 
as  the  ship  was  leaving,  and  was  buried  near 
London.  She  left  one  son,  Thomas,  who  was  edu- 
cated in  England  and  emigrated  to  Virginia,  later. 
Many  eminent  Virginians  trace  their  descent  to 
Pocahontas,  through  Thomas  Rolfe. 

It  would  be  a  grave  injustice,  however,  to  allow 
Rolfe's  memory  to  be  attached  only  to  the  Poca- 
hontas romance.  His  work  for  the  colony  was  not 
second  in  importance  to  that  of  any  man.  He  per- 
formed the  apparently  miraculous  task,  not  only 
of  making  Virginia  pay,  but  of  finding  in  those 
tide-water  swamps  a  source  of  wealth  greater  than 
any  gold-mine. 

This  was  tobacco,  and  around  the  question  of 
tobacco  hangs  all  the  later  history  of  Virginia. 

Tobacco  was  first  made  known  to  Europe  by  the 
Spaniards.  Lane,  governor  of  the  first  permanent 
colony,  at  Roanoke,  was  the.  first  Englishman  to 
use  the  weed.  When  he  was  rescued  by  Drake,  it 
was  in  Drake's  ship  that  the  first  supply  was 
brought  to  England  in  1588. 

The  tobacco  habit  spread  rapidly,  especially  in 
the  English  court,  where  Raleigh  set  the  fashion. 
Pope  Urban  VIII  issued  a  Bull  against  it,  James  I 
published  his  famous  "Counterblast  against  To- 
bacco. ' ' 

These  attacks  were  all  in  vain.  In  Spain,  in 
England  and  in  Holland,  the  demand  for  tobacco 
grew  apace.  Spain  found  in  her  West  Indian  and 
Central  American  possessions  a  new  source  of 


THE  LAND  OF  TOBACCO  101 

wealth.  England  was  not  so  favored,  for  the 
crude  tobacco  brought  from  Virginia  as  prepared 
by  the  Indians  was  little  esteemed  because  of  its 
bitter  pungency. 

Eolfe,  realizing  that  good  tobacco  sold  in  Eng- 
land for  twelve  shillings  (equal  to  about  $11  now) 
per  pound,  set  to  work  to  improve  the  character 
of  Virginia  tobacco.  He  planted  his  first  field 
in  1612,  and  spent  much  time  in  experiments  as 
to  the  best  method  of  curing  the  leaf.  In  1616,  a 
consignment  from  his  plantation  was  sold  at  a 
price  not  much  lower  than  that  of  good  Spanish 
tobacco.  That  sale  clinched  the  English  coloniza- 
tion of  Virginia,  and  determined  the  lines  along 
which  it  should  develop. 

Dale,  despite  his  esteem  for  Eolfe,  did  not  look 
kindly  on  tobacco.  He  regarded  smoking  as  a 
passing  fad,  and,  fearing  lest  food-supplies  should 
diminish,  he  ordered  that  no  farmer  should  set  out 
this  crop  until  he  had  put  two-thirds  of  his  land 
in  corn.  This  prohibition  did  not  extend  to  the 
large  tracts  of  land  owned  by  knights  and  gentle- 
men. Such  took  to  tobacco-planting  extensively. 

In  the  treaty  made  with  Powhatan  at  the  time 
of  Pocahontas'  marriage,  Dale  had  provided  that 
the  natives  should  be  relieved  from  any  further 
exactions  on  the  condition  of  a  tax  of  two  and  a 
half  bushels  of  corn  per  Indian.  As  this  demand 
was  not  excessive,  it  secured  peace  for  eight  years, 
and  allowed  the  extension  of  the  tobacco  plan- 
tations. 


102       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Upon  Dale's  departure,  which  coincided  with 
the  sale  of  Rolfe's  well-cured  tobacco  at  a  high 
price,  every  farmer  and  laborer  turned  his  corn 
land  into  the  new  crop.  Yeardley,  the  new  deputy 
governor,  allowed  and  even  encouraged  the  change. 
In  the  spring  of  1617  the  market-place  of  James- 
town, and  even  the  borders  of  the  streets,  were 
set  with  tobacco. 

In  London,  the  Company  was  beset  with  internal 
troubles.  Two  antagonistic  parties  developed. 
One  was  the  Court  Party,  headed  by  the  Earl  of 
Warwick,  which  was  in  favor  of  martial  law  and 
Dale's  slave-driving  policy;  the  other  was  the 
Country  Party,  headed  by  Sir  Thomas  Smythe 
and  Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  which  demanded  a  new 
charter  and  the  establishment  of  all  settlers  as 
free  citizens. 

The  Country  Party  won  the  day,  and  the  Third 
Charter — though  severely  attacked  in  Parliament 
— became  effective  November  30,  1616.  Argall 
was  appointed  to  succeed  Yeardley,  with  instruc- 
tions to  abolish  Dale's  martial  laws,  to  give  fifty 
acres  to  every  settler,  and  to  remove  all  restric- 
tions against  visiting  England. 

Argall  had  always  been  headstrong  and  un- 
scrupulous, vices  which  had  not  brought  him  into 
any  trouble  when  subordinate  to  men  of  authority 
like  De  La  Warr,  Gates  or  Dale,  but  which  proved 
his  bane  when  at  last  he  was  given  power.  He 
ignored  the  instructions,  continued  the  slavery 
system,  used  his  office  for  extortion  and  denied 


THE  LAND  OF  TOBACCO  103 

to  others  the  rights  to  tobacco-planting  which  he 
seized  for  himself. 

After  Argall  had  been  in  control  for  a  year,  the 
Company  sent  Lord  De  La  Warr  to  arrest  him 
and  to  reassume  charge  of  the  colony.  Touching 
at  the  Azores  on  the  way,  Lord  De  La  Warr  and 
thirty  of  his  companions  fell  sick  and  died  so 
strangely  that  the  Spaniards  were  commonly  sup- 
posed to  have  poisoned  them.  The  ship  reached 
Jamestown  and  the  order  for  arrest  fell  into  Ar- 
gall's  hands.  As  no  other  Deputy  Governor  had 
been  appointed,  however,  he  continued  in  power 
for  nearly  a  year  more. 

Then  Eomance  shifted  her  seat  from  Virginia 
to  London. 

The  young  son  of  Sir  Thomas  Smythe,  head  of 
the  Country  Party  in  the  Virginia  Company,  fell 
desperately  in  love  with  Lady  Isabella  Rich,  sis- 
ter of  the  Earl  of  Warwick.  The  old  merchant 
explosively  refused  his  consent  to  his  son's  mar- 
riage. A  dramatic  elopement  was  succeeded  by  a 
private  wedding,  at  which  the  Earls  of  Southamp- 
ton and  Pembroke  and  the  Countess  of  Bedford 
were  present. 

This  elopement  wrought  great  changes  in  Vir- 
ginia. The  Earl  of  Warwick,  furious  that  a  mer- 
chant should  dare  to  oppose  Lady  Rich's  mar- 
riage, temporarily  deserted  the  Court  Party  and 
threw  his  influence  with  one  of  the  wings  of  the 
Country  Party  which  was  dissatisfied  with 
Smythe's  leadership.  Smythe  was  thrown  out  of 


104       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

office  and  Sir  Edwin  Sandys — famous  for  his  defi- 
ance of  James  I — was  made  Treasurer. 

The  results  in  the  colony  were  immediate. 
Yeardley  was  appointed  Governor,  to  succeed 
Lord  De  La  Warr,  and  he  was  sent  post-haste  to 
arrest  Argall.  The  latter  fled  from  Virgina  be- 
fore Yeardley 's  arrival  and  made  good  his  excuses 
to  the  Company.  As  an  opponent  of  Sandys, 
whom  the  King  detested,  he  was  even  knighted. 

Sandys  loved  liberty  as  much  as  he  hated  the 
King.  He  was  one  of  the  many  Englishmen  of  that 
time  who  resented  the  would-be  autocracy  of  the 
Stuarts,  and  who  stood  fast  to  the  Constitution. 
It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  liberties  won  by 
the  English  colonies  in  America  came  from  the 
English  people,  not  from  the  Crown. 

Yeardley  brought  with  him  explicit  instructions 
for  the  convening  of  a  General  Assembly,  which 
came  to  be  known  as  the  " House  of  Burgesses." 
It  continued  without  interruption  until  1776  and 
was  the  first  local  legislative  government  in  Amer- 
ica. Its  power  was  not  absolute,  for  its  acts  were 
not  valid  until  approved  by  the  Company,  in  Lon- 
don ;  on  the  other  hand,  acts  initiated  by  the  Com- 
pany had  no  force  unless  approved  by  the  House 
of  Burgesses. 

James  I  disliked  Smythe,  hated  Sandys  and  will- 
ingly accepted  the  Spanish  ambassador's  descrip- 
tion of  the  House  of  Burgesses  as  *  *  a  seminary  of 
sedition. ' '  In  1620,  he  sent  messengers  to  the  an- 
nual meeting  of  the  Company  forbidding  the  re- 


THE  LAND  OF  TOBACCO  105 

election  of  Sandys.  The  Company  flatly  denied 
the  King's  right  to  interfere,  but  Sandys  feared 
that  an  open  break  might  lose  to  Virginia  all  that 
had  been  gained  and  withdrew  his  name.  The 
Earl  of  Southampton,  known  to  be  fully  in  agree- 
ment with  Sandys'  policy,  was  elected. 

Parliament  was  summoned  in  1621,  several  of 
its  members  being  stockholders  in  the  Virginia 
Company.  The  parliament  refused  to  do  what 
James  I  demanded,  impeached  the  Lord  Chancel- 
lor for  bribery  and  vigorously  denounced  the  royal 
efforts  to  catch  a  royal  bride. 

The  King  told  Parliament  to  mind  its  own  busi- 
ness. The  Commons  replied  ''that  their  privi- 
leges were  not  the  gift  of  the  Crown,  but  the  nat- 
ural birthright  of  English  subjects,  and  that  mat- 
ters of  public  interest  were  within  their  province. ' ' 
The  enraged  monarch  dissolved  Parliament  in 
January,  1622,  sent  Southampton,  Pym  and  others 
to  prison,  and  thus  sowed  the  seeds  of  that  revolt 
against  the  Stuart  kings  which  was  to  cost  Charles 
I  his  head. 

Next  year,  friends  of  the  King  laid  before  the 
Privy  Council  a  terrible  indictment  of  affairs  in 
Virginia.  They  declared  that  Jamestown  was  a 
pest-hole,  that  hundreds  of  English  subjects  were 
held  in  partial  slavery,  that  the  houses  were  flimsy 
and  unsanitary,  that  the  food-supply  was  precari- 
ous and  that  no  signs  of  gold  or  silver  had  been 
found.  Most  of  this  was  true,  but  the  statements 
were  exaggerated  by  rancor  and  malice. 


106       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

A  Royal  Commission  of  Investigation  was  sent 
to  Virginia,  the  commissioners  including  Argall, 
the  bitterest  enemy  of  Sandys.  Its  report  was 
scathing.  In  October,  1623,  the  Privy  Council 
recommended  that  the  Company's  charter  be  can- 
celed and  that  the  King  should  resume  personal 
control  of  Virginia.  The  Company  appealed  to 
Parliament,  in  vain.  On  June  10,  1624,  the  Lord 
Chief  Justice  declared  the  Virginia  Charter  null 
and  void. 

The  King  proceeded  to  draw  up  an  entirely  new 
plan  of  government  for  Virginia,  abolishing  the 
House  of  Burgesses,  but,  before  this  could  be  put 
into  effect,  death  put  an  end  to  his  scheming. 
None  the  less,  the  deed  was  done.  The  Company 
was  extinct.  Virginia  had  become  a  Crown 
Colony. 

Charles  I  was  no  fonder  of  representative  gov- 
ernment than  was  his  father,  but  he  needed  money, 
and  the  royal  tax  on  the  Virginia  tobacco  crop 
had  become  important.  He  did  not  want  to  kill  a 
goose  which  laid  such  golden  eggs.  He  sent  Yeard- 
ley  as  Royal  Governor,  thus  pleasing  Sandys  and 
the  colonists,  and  addressed  the  colonial  parlia- 
ment as  "Our  trusty  and  well-beloved  Burgesses 
of  the  Grand  Assembly  of  Virginia,"  thus  offi- 
cially recognizing  representative  government  in 
the  colony. 

Tobacco  had  become  the  commercial  backbone  of 
Virginia,  tobacco  caused  the  party  strife  in  the 
Company,  tobacco  was  the  bait  which  Charles  I 


THE  LAND  OF  TOBACCO  107 

swallowed  when  he  accepted  the  House  of  Bur- 
gesses. It  was  no  wonder.  In  1622  sixty  thou- 
sand pounds  of  tobacco  were  exported,  worth 
a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars  of  modern  money. 
Such  exports  reveal  a  very  different  state  of  af- 
fairs from  that  prior  to  1616,  when  the  settlers 
were  unable  to  raise  enough  food  to  feed  them- 
selves. 

The  success  of  the  tobacco  crop  was  made  pos- 
sible by  the  importation  of  ' '  servants, ' '  better  de- 
scribed as  indentured  plantation  hands.  These 
were  drawn  from  all  ranks  of  society,  but  were 
mainly  " beggars  and  vagabonds."  This  phrase, 
however,  conveys  a  false  impression.  It  meant, 
simply,  the  unemployed,  such  as  soldiers  and  sail- 
ors released  by  the  ending  of  the  war,  farmers 
who  had  lost  their  farms,  agricultural  and  indus- 
trial laborers  out  of  work. 

The  severity  of  the  laws  against  them,  how- 
ever, proves  that  they  were  regarded  as  a  men- 
ace. Any  man  or  woman  found  wandering  on  the 
highway  was  to  be  seized,  stripped  naked  to  the 
waist,  *  *  and  openly  whipped  until  his  or  her  body 
were  bloody."  Imprisonment  or  exile  was  awarded 
for  a  second  offense.  All  such  could  be — and  often 
were — indentured  as  "servants"  in  Virginia. 
Convicted  criminals  had  the  choice  of  hard  labor 
or  emigration.  Waifs  and  strays  in  the  city 
streets  were  bound  out  as  "apprentices."  Thus 
was  labor  secured  on  the  tobacco  plantations. 

There  was,  however,  a  brighter  side  to  the  pic- 


108       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

ture.  Indentures  varied  both  as  to  length  and 
conditions  of  service.  Volunteers  served  only  two 
years.  Hardened  criminals  might  serve  seven 
years,  or  even  ten.  In  general,  indentures  were  for 
five  years.  At  the  end  of  that  period  the  "serv- 
ant" became  free,  and  received  clothing,  food  and 
tools  to  the  value  of  ten  pounds  sterling  (now 
about  $250).  Land  could  be  got  on  very  easy 
terms.  Workers  who  survived  the  toil  and  the  cli- 
mate might  be  reasonably  sure  of  becoming  their 
own  masters,  a  hope  which  life  in  England  could 
not  hold  out  to  them. 

Fairer  cargoes  than  these,  too,  had  come  to  Vir- 
ginia. The  year  1619,  which  saw  the  establish- 
ment of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  witnessed  also 
the  trans-shipment  of  young  English  girls  for 
wives.  Ninety  would-be  brides  arrived  in  that 
year,  and  many  more  in  the  years  following. 

These  " Sandys  maids,"  as  they  were  known, 
might  be  chosen  by  any  settler  who  could  pay  the 
cost  of  their  transportation,  estimated  at  120 
pounds  of  tobacco  (a  fluctuating  figure,  between 
$600  and  $900  in  the  values  of  to-day).  The  girls 
were  under  contract  to  marry,  and  could  not  re* 
fuse  to  do  so,  but,  as  there  were  many  suitors  for 
each,  the  maids  had  plenty  of  choice.  The  system 
worked  admirably,  though,  in  that  unhealthful 
climate,  the  young  wives  died  fast. 

The  onward  progress  of  the  colony  was  checked 
by  the  Indian  massacre  of  1622.  The  attack  was 
most  unexpected.  Powhatan  had  died  in  1618  and 


THE  LAND  OF  TOBACCO  109 

his  brother  Opechancanough  became  war-chief  of 
the  confederacy.  In  1621,  the  new  leader  prepared 
a  widespread  plot  against  the  English.  Yeardley 
learned  of  it,  fortified  the  plantation  and  sent  a 
threat  that  the  slightest  hostile  move  would  be 
answered  by  swift  and  sweeping  vengeance. 

That  year,  however,  Yeardley  was  succeeded  by 
Sir  Francis  Wyatt.  In  March,  1622,  a  young  In- 
dian called  Nemmattanow,  but  better  known  as 
"Jack-o'-the-Feather,"  slew  a  white  man  and 
was  himself  slain.  Wyatt  feared  trouble,  but  Ope- 
chancanough was  treacherously  polite  and  de- 
clared that  "he  held  the  peace  so  firm  that  the 
sky  should  fall  before  he  broke  it." 

The  story  of  the  massacre  was  written  by  John 
Smith. 

"On  the  Friday  morning,  that  fatal  day,  being 
the  two-and-twentieth  of  March,"  he  wrote,  "as 
also  in  the  evening  before,  as  at  other  times  the  In- 
dians came  unarmed  into  our  houses,  with  deer, 
wild  turkeys,  fish,  fruits  and  other  provisions  to 
sell  us.  Yea,  in  some  places  they  sat  down  at 
breakfast  with  our  people,  who,  immediately,  with 
their  own  tools  they  slew  most  barbarously,  not 
sparing  either  age  or  sex,  man,  woman  or  child; 
so  sudden  was  their  execution  that  few  or  none 
discerned  the  weapon  or  the  blow  that  brought 
them  to  destruction. 

' '  In  which  manner,  also,  they  slew  many  of  our 
people  at  their  several  works  in  the  fields,-  well 
knowing  in  what  places  and  quarters  each  of  our 


110       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

men  were,  in  regard  of  their  familiarity  with  us, 
which  we  permitted  for  the  effecting  of  that  great 
masterpiece  of  work,  their  conversion.  By  this 
means  fell  that  fatal  morning  347  men,  women 
and  children,  mostly  by  their  own  weapons.  Not 
being  content  with  their  lives,  the  Indians  fell 
again  upon  the  dead  bodies,  making  as  well  as  they 
could  a  fresh  murder,  defacing,  dragging  and 
mangling  their  dead  carcasses  into  many  pieces, 
and  carrying  some  parts  away  in  derision,  with 
base  and  brutish  triumph." 

The  wholesale  extermination  of  the  English  had 
been  the  purpose  of  Opechancanough,  and,  but  for 
the  betrayal  of  his  plan  by  one  Indian,  there  would 
not  have  been  a  white  man  alive  in  Virginia  by 
sunset  of  that  day. 

Shortly  before  midnight,  the  brother  of  a 
friendly  Indian  who  was  employed  by  a  settler 
named  Pace  brought  his  fellow-tribesman  the  or- 
ders of  the  chief,  telling  him  the  hour  at  which 
Pace  should  be  slain.  When  his  brother  had  gone, 
the  friendly  Indian  awakened  his  master  and  be- 
trayed the  plot.  Pace  leaped  from  his  bed,  rowed 
across  the  river  to  Jamestown,  reaching  there 
just  before  dawn,  and  gave  the  alarm.  Wyatt  in- 
stantly sent  couriers  to  the  plantations  in  every 
direction  and  thereby  saved  thousands  of  lives. 

Opechancanough  had  done  badly  in  stirring  up 
the  English.  The  shape  of  the  colony,  long  and 
narrow  (from  Hampton  Roads  to  Eichmond  and 
for  many  miles  up  the  York  River),  made  it  open 


THE  LAND  OF  TOBACCO  111 

to  Indian  attack.    But  it  also  afforded  a  strong 
base  from  which  to  punish. 

The  settlers  began  a  ruthless  and  terrible  re- 
venge. They  slew  and  they  hunted,  they  hunted 
and  they  slew.  They  wiped  out  every  Indian  vil- 
lage in  the  vicinity.  They  pursued  the  redskins 
with  the  ferocity  of  wild  beasts.  By  the  time  the 
colonists  abandoned  the  blood-chase,  Opechan- 
canough  was  left  with  but  a  sorry  remnant  of 
his  people. 

This  vengeful  punishment  served  its  purpose. 
Not  an  Indian  arrow  was  loosed  at  a  white  man 
in  the  colony  for  more  than  twenty  years. 

Despite  the  massacre,  Virginia  had  thriven  dur- 
ing those  decisive  years  between  1619  and  1625. 
Tobacco  plantations  were  numerous.  Much  capi- 
tal had  been  invested.  Labor  was  plentiful. 
Sandys'  maids  made  excellent  wives  and  social 
life  had  begun.  Churches  were  solidly  estab- 
lished at  a  dozen  points.  Schools  were  organized 
in  1621.  In  1622  a  College  (now  known  as  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  College)  was  on  the  point  of  be- 
ing founded  when  George  Thorpe,  sent  out  to  be 
its  first  president,  was  slain)  in  the  Opechan- 
canough  massacre. 

Yet  a  black  pall  hung  over  all — the  pall  of  pes- 
tilence. Tide-water  Virginia,  fertile  and  luxuri- 
ant, was  a  breeding-spot  of  disease.  Even  those 
who  survived  were  racked  by  the  "shivering 
ague,"  and  six  months  of  "chills  and  fever"  were 
the  annual  portion  of  every  settler. 


112        THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

And  they  who  survived  were  few.  The  records 
show  that,  between  the  years  1606  and  1625,  some 
5645  emigrants  left  England  for  Virginia.  Of 
these,  only  1095  persons  (1232  and  1227  in  other 
accounts)  were  left  alive  in  the  spring  of  1625. 
Eighty-eight  persons  out  of  every  hundred  had 
perished  from  disease  or  starvation  or  had  been 
killed  by  Indians. 

Viewed  in  the  light  of  later  history,  these  deaths 
were  involuntary  martyrdoms  in  a  glorious 
cause.  The  early  settlers  established  the  English 
in  Virginia,  carved  out  a  wealth-bearing  colony 
from  a  fetid  swamp,  established  the  first  repre- 
sentative assembly  on  American  soil,  and  rooted 
firmly  in  the  New  World  that  desire  for  a  just 
freedom  which  is  the  chief  heritage  of  the  English- 
speaking  race. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   KENT  ISLAND   FIGHT 

The  success  of  Virgina  brought  rivalry,  and 
when  the  tobacco  crop  proved  to  Englishmen  that 
there  was  a  chance  of  making  money  over-seas, 
an  enormous  impetus  was  given  to  colonization. 
One  of  the  new  ventures  was  the  founding  of 
Maryland,  the  interests  of  which  clashed  with  Vir- 
ginia and  led  to  fighting  along  the  border. 

Virginia  began  as  an  Elizabethan  adventure  un- 
der the  urging  of  Raleigh,  continued  as  a  trading 
post  in  the  hands  of  a  joint-stock  company,  and 
became  a  Royal  Colony  as  soon  as  the  tobacco 
crop  ensured  a  handsome  profit.  Maryland  began 
as  a  feudal  state.  It  owed  its  origin  solely  to  the 
desire  of  Lord  Baltimore  to  found  a  Roman  Catho- 
lic colony  for  Englishmen. 

George  Calvert,  afterwards  Lord  Baltimore,  son 
of  a  Yorkshire  farmer,  was  born  in  1580.  He  was 
a  scholar  and  a  writer  and  his  open  support  of  the 
project  of  James  I  to  marry  his  son  Charles  to  a 
Spanish  princess  won  him  the  favor  of  the  King. 
In  1619  he  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State  with 
the  arrangement  of  the  marriage  as  his  chief  task. 
His  religious  position  was  that  of  an  outward 

113 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

conforming  to  the  Church  of  England  with  a 
strong  leaning  toward  Roman  Catholicism. 

Lord  Baltimore  had  been  interested  in  the  colo- 
nization of  America  from  the  very  start.  He 
had  been  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Company 
since  1609.  Being  an  appointee  of  the  King,  he 
sided  with  the  Court  Party  against  Smythe,  San- 
dys and  Southampton.  He  was  shrewd  enough 
to  see  that  the  Sandys  Party  was  in  the  ascen- 
dant and  would  never  agree  to  his  feudal  plans, 
nor  show  favor  to  Roman  Catholics. 

There  was  need  for  such  a  colony.  The  laws 
of  England  against  Roman  Catholics  were  unbe- 
lievably strict,  but,  like  all  excessive  laws,  they 
had  brought  about  their  own  neglect.  Roman 
Catholics  were  forbidden  to  become  lawyers  or 
teachers,  they  must  attend  English  Church  serv- 
ices or  pay  ruinous  fines,  failing  which  they  were 
banished.  Two-thirds  of  their  lands  might  be 
confiscated.  All  priests  were  to  be  hunted  out 
of  the  country  and  some  who  did  not  go  were 
drawn  and  quartered.  Every  suspected  man  was 
compelled  to  take  the  Oath  of  Supremacy,  which 
stated  that  the  King  was  the  Head  of  the  Church 
and  denied  that  the  Pope  had  power  over  English 
subjects. 

Laws  of  so  drastic  a  character  are  rarely  made 
for  religious  reasons  only,  but  are  generally  as- 
sociated with  a  suspicion  of  treason.  It  was  so 
in  this  case. 

During  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  Roman  Catho- 


THE  KENT  ISLAND  FIGHT  115 

lies  were  suspected  because  the  Pope  had  excom- 
municated the  Queen,  and  because  the  war  with 
Spain  was  a  religious  war.  None  the  less,  the 
Roman  Catholics  of  England  showed  no  lack  of 
patriotism. 

During  the  reigns  of  the  first  two  Stuart  kings, 
Parliament  suspected  the  Roman  Catholics  of 
making  treacherous  advances  to  Spain.  The 
Spanish  marriage  project  of  James  I  heightened 
this  suspicion.  The  English  people  did  not  want 
a  Roman  Catholic  king  on  the  throne. 

There  were,  therefore,  both  the  laws  and  the 
force  of  public  opinion  to  make  life  in  England 
unpleasant  for  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  Amer- 
ica appeared  to  offer  a  haven  of  refuge.  Virginia 
would  not  serve,  for  it  was  rigid  in  its  adherence 
to  the  English  Church.  Another  colony  must  be 
found. 

In  1620  Lord  Baltimore  secured  a  grant  for  the 
southern  peninsula  of  Newfoundland,  and,  the  fol- 
lowing year,  he  sent  thither  one  ship  with  a  few 
colonists  and  some  supplies.  In  March,  1623,  he 
received  a  royal  charter  for  this  region,  to  which 
he  gave  the  name  of  Avalon.  Next  year,  he  re- 
signed his  office  as  Secretary  of  State  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  become  a  Roman  Catholic,  and 
immediately  after  was  elevated  to  the  peerage. 
James  I  died  a  few  days  after  the  gift  of  a  title  to 
his  favorite  on  whom  he  had  already  bestowed 
a  vast  Irish  estate  near  Cape  Clear.  From  a  vil- 
lage on  this  estate  came  the  name  "Baltimore." 


116       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

The  plans  for  the  Roman  Catholic  colony  pushed 
forward.  In  1627,  Lord  Baltimore  went  to  New- 
foundland with  Lady  Baltimore  and  his  children. 
But  he  was  bitterly  disappointed  in  his  venture. 
It  was  not  always  summer  in  Avalon.  In  1629, 
he  wrote  to  Charles  I,  who  had  remained  his  warm 
friend,  as  follows: 

"I  have  met  with  difficulties  and  encumbrances 
here  in  this  place  which  are  no  longer  to  be  re- 
sisted, but  enforce  me  presently  to  quit  my  resi- 
dence and  to  shift  to  some  other  warmer  climate 
of  the  New  World,  where  the  winters  be  shorter 
and  less  rigorous. 

"For  here  Your  Majesty  may  please  to  under- 
stand that  I  have  found — by  too  dear-bought  ex- 
perience .  .  .  that  from  the  middle  of  October  to 
the  middle  of  May  there  is  a  sad  fare  of  winter 
upon  all  this  land ;  both  sea  and  land  being  frozen 
for  the  greater  part  of  the  time  as  they  are  not 
penetrable,  nor  plant  or  vegetable  appearing  out 
of  the  earth  until  the  beginning  of  May,  nor  fish 
in  the  sea;  beside,  the  air  is  so  intolerable  cold 
as  is  hardly  to  be  endured.  By  means  whereof, 
and  of  much  salt  meat,  my  house  hath  been  a  hos- 
pital all  this  winter;  of  a  hundred  persons,  fifty 
sick  at  a  time,  myself  being  one,  and  nine  or  ten 
of  them  have  died.  .  .  . 

"To  further,  the  best  I  may,  the  enlarging  of 
Your  Majesty's  empire  in  this  part  of  the  world, 
I  am  determined  to  commit  this  place  to  fishermen 
that  are  able  to  encounter  storms  and  hard 


THE  KENT  ISLAND  FIGHT  117 

weather,  and  to  remove  myself  with  some  forty 
persons  to  Your  Majesty's  dominion,  Virginia; 
where,  if  Your  Majesty  will  please  to  grant  me  a 
precinct  of  land,  with  such  privileges  as  the  King 
your  father  was  pleased  to  grant  me  here,  I  shall 
endeavor  to  the  utmost  of  my  power  to  deserve 

it" 

Before  an  answer  to  this  letter  could  be  re- 
ceived, Lord  Baltimore  sailed  for  Virginia,  arriv- 
ing in  Jamestown  on  October  1,  1629,  where  he 
found  the  House  of  Burgesses  in  session. 

There  had  been  changes  in  officials  in  Virginia, 
during  the  preceding  four  years,  but  no  altera- 
tions in  policy.  Yeardley,  Harvey  and  West  had 
been  governors  in  succession.  During  a  period 
when  West  had  been  called  to  England  by  busi- 
ness, and  Harvey  had  not  yet  arrived,  Dr.  John 
Pott  had  acted  as  Deputy  Governor. 

Pott  was  one  of  the  queer  types  of  brilliant 
but  unsuccessful  men  who  found  their  way  to  the 
colonies.  He  was  a  learned  man  and  an  excellent 
physician,  but  he  was  over-fond  of  liquor  and  none 
too  scrupulous.  When  Harvey  arrived,  he  was 
compelled  to  arrest  the  Acting  Governor  for  par- 
doning a  convicted  murderer,  and  for  stealing  cat- 
tle, himself. 

There  was  no  doubt  as  to  Pott 's  guilt.  Harvey, 
instead  of  proceeding  to  extreme  measures,  or- 
dered the  ex-official  to  be  confined  to  his  house,  and 
wrote  to  Charles  I  for  instructions,  pointing  out 
that  Pott  was  the  ablest  doctor  in  the  colony,  and 


118       THE  COMING  OP  THE  PEOPLES 

urging  a  royal  pardon.  This  was  granted  and 
the  convivial  doctor  resumed  his  practice. 

Dr.  Pott  was  still  Acting  Governor  when  Lord 
Baltimore  sailed  up  the  James  River.  The  noble- 
man's reception  was  as  frosty  as  the  Newfound- 
land shores  he  had  left.  Pott  was  frankly  hostile 
and  rude.  The  Virginians  were  staunch  English 
Churchmen,  and  they  looked  with  suspicion  on 
Roman  Catholics.  They  stood  for  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  Lord  Baltimore  had  been  a  favorite  of 
the  King. 

The  House  of  Burgesses  wanted  to  get  rid  of 
this  unwelcome  visitor  as  quickly  as  possible. 
They  had  a  very  easy  device  all  ready  to  their 
hands.  This  was  the  Oath  of  Supremacy,  which 
no  Roman  Catholic  was  willing  to  take. 

Lord  Baltimore  proposed  a  substitute  form  of 
declaration.  The  House  of  Burgesses  refused  to 
accept  it,  and  ordered  the  nobleman  to  leave  the 
colony.  He  remained  until  the  spring,  however, 
and  sailed  to  England  soon  after  Harvey 's  arrival. 
Thus  Virginia  lost  one  of  the  ablest  men  who  had 
stepped  on  her  shores,  but  Virginia's  loss  was 
America's  gain. 

When  he  landed  in  England,  Lord  Baltimore 
found  that  the  territory  he  coveted,  from  Florida 
to  Roanoke,  had  already  been  granted  on  October 
30,  1629,  to  Sir  Robert  Heath,  under  the  name 
of  " Carolina."  He  petitioned,  therefore  for  the 
land  between  Roanoke  and  the  James  River,  but 
the  Virginians,  headed  by  Claiborne  and  "West, 


THE  KENT  ISLAND  FIGHT  119 

protested  so  strongly  that  the  grant  was  denied. 

Lord  Baltimore,  however,  was  determined  to 
have  a  colony  of  his  own  and  he  held  an  order  from 
Charles  I  for  "any  part  of  Virginia  not  already 
granted."  After  two  years  of  incessant  effort  he 
received  a  patent  for  the  territory  between  the 
southern  bank  of  the  Potomac  River  and  40°  (the 
latitude  of  Philadelphia).  This  was  first  called  by 
the  King  "Mariana,"  after  Queen  Henrietta 
Maria,  but  the  name  was  later  changed  by  him  to 
' '  Maryland. ' ' 

The  Virginians  rose  in  wrath.  Only  the  year 
before  William  Claiborne  had  planted  a  small 
plantation  on  Kent  Island,  and  this  plantation 
was  represented  in  the  House  of  Burgesses  by  a 
delegate.  Kent  Island  was  fifty  miles  north  of 
the  southern  border  of  the  territory  granted  to 
Lord  Baltimore.  The  Jamestown  men  insisted 
that,  by  the  old  charter — which  had  been  annulled 
— Kent  Island  was  in  their  territory  and  that  the 
frontier  of  Maryland  was  an  invasion  on  their 
rights. 

The  King  referred  the  question  to  the  Royal 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  Plantations.  On 
July  3,  1633,  the  Commissioner  confirmed  Lord 
Baltimore's  grant,  since  the  annulment  of  the  old 
charter  left  the  King  free  to  dispose  of  unoccupied 
territory  as  he  wished.  Kent  Island  was  declared 
to  be  a  trading  post,  not  a  plantation,  but  Lord 
Baltimore  was  restrained  from  interfering  with 
Claiborne 's  settlement  or  his  trade. 


120        THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Claiborne  left  London,  breathing  defiance  of 
the  King,  the  Royal  Commissioners  and  Lord  Bal- 
timore, and  frankly  avowing  that  "he  would  fight 
for  Kent  Island  with  the  last  drop  of  his  blood ! ' ' 

The  Maryland  grant,  as  finally  approved,  was 
made  out  to  Cecelius  Calvert,  second  Lord  Bal- 
timore. The  first  Lord  Baltimore  had  died  while 
negotiations  were  in  progress,  without  knowing 
whether  his  long-desired  aim  would  be  achieved. 

The  Maryland  government  was  of  a  curious 
pattern.  It  was  a  palatinate,  an  ancient  kind  of 
minor  kingdom  situated  on  frontiers  and  possess- 
ing both  military  independence  and  the  right  to 
make  its  own  laws.  James  I  had  given  Avalon 
to  the  first  Lord  Baltimore  as  a  palatinate,  be- 
cause Newfoundland  was  claimed  by  the  French, 
and  Avalon  was  a  frontier  state.  Charles  I  gave 
Maryland  to  the  second  Lord  Baltimore  as  a  palat- 
inate, because  its  territory  ran  north  to  what 
is  now  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  then  held 
by  the  Dutch,  thus  making  Maryland  a  frontier 
state.  Carolina  began  on  the  same  pattern,  be- 
cause it  was  a  frontier  state  to  the  Spanish  in 
Florida. 

Lord  Baltimore,  indeed,  was  King  of  Maryland 
in  all  save  the  name.  He  could  issue  laws  without 
calling  the  Assembly,  and  no  laws  were  valid 
without  his  signature.  He  could  coin  money,  grant 
titles  of  nobility,  create  courts,  appoint  judges  and 
pardon  criminals.  Taxation  was  in  his  hands,  not 
in  that  of  the  English  Crown. 


THE  KENT  ISLAND  FIGHT  121 

It  was  the  earnest  intention  of  the  second  Lord 
Baltimore  personally  to  lead  his  colonists  to  Mary- 
land, even  as  his  father  had  led  a  party  to  New- 
foundland. He  did  not  dare  do  so.  His  enemies 
were  too  numerous  and  too  powerful.  The  Vir- 
ginians held  his  grant  unlawful,  the  English 
Church  party  opposed  the  granting  of  favors  to 
Eoman  Catholics,  the  Puritans  cried  out  against 
the  establishment  of  " papistry"  in  America,  and 
Parliament  regarded  the  palatinate  as  unconsti- 
tutional. Lord  Baltimore  was  compelled  to  stay 
at  home  to  steer  his  colony  through  these  troubled 
political  waters. 

Fortunately  for  Maryland,  the  Lord  Proprietor 
had  an  excellent  man  available  for  Governor. 
This  was  his  brother,  Leonard  Calvert,  through 
whom  he  was  able  to  establish  the  principle  of  re- 
ligious toleration  for  which  Maryland  is  famous. 
The  colony  was  definitely  Eoman  Catholic  in 
leadership,  but  Lord  Baltimore  commanded  most 
emphatically  that  no  cause  of  offense  should  be 
given  to  any  Protestant  and  specified  "all  acts 
of  Eoman  Catholic  religion  to  be  done  as  privately 
as  may  be  ...  all  Eoman  Catholics  to  be  silent 
upon  all  occasions  of  discourse  concerning  mat- 
ters of  religion." 

In  October,  1633,  two  ships,  the  Ark  and  the 
Dove,  sailed  from  London.  The  emigrants  con- 
sisted of  20  gentlemen  adventurers,  who,  with  the 
governor  and  the  two  councilors,  were  Eoman 


122       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Catholics,  and  of  300  artisans  and  laborers,  of 
whom  the  larger  number  were  "Protestants. 

The  sailing  of  the  Ark  and  the  Dove  gave  rise  to 
the  wildest  rumors.  Hot-heads  and  Puritans  de- 
clared that  Calvert  was  sailing  for  America  under 
a  secret  agreement  between  Charles  I  and  Spain ; 
the  Virginians  alleged  that  the  purpose  was  to 
set  up  a  Roman  Catholic  colony  in  which  Span- 
iards would  be  welcomed  and  which  was  to  serve 
as  a  base  for  the  capture  of  Virginia.  Such  ru- 
mors alarmed  the  public.  A  Star  Chamber  writ 
of  seizure  was  secured  and  Admiral  Pennington, 
commanding  the  Channel  fleet,  stopped  Calvert 's 
ships  at  Dover. 

The  scare  came  to  nothing.  The  emigrants  took 
the  Oath  of  Supremacy  without  the  slightest  out- 
ward objection.  The  papers  of  the  expedition 
were  in  perfect  order.  The  grant  could  not  be 
questioned.  Governor  Calvert  bore  a  personal 
letter  from  Charles  I  to  Governor  Harvey  of  Vir- 
ginia. The  ships  started  again  on  November  22, 
1633,  took  the  lengthy  West  Indies  route  and 
reached  Old  Point  Comfort  on  February  27,  1634. 

The  royal  letter  ensured  a  courteous  official  re- 
ception at  Jamestown,  though  the  Virginians  had 
little  love  for  the  Maryland  settlers.  Cattle,  hogs 
and  poultry  were  purchased  and  the  Ark  and  the 
Dove  passed  on  to  the  shores  of  the  Potomac 
Eiver.  On  March  23,  1634,  the  settlers  landed  at 
St.  Clement's  Island  and  one  of  the  Jesuit  priests 
celebrated  there  the  first  mass  said  in  English 


THE  KENT  ISLAND  FIGHT  123 

America.  As  it  was  punishable  with  death  to  cele- 
brate mass  on  English  soil,  this  action  was  sig- 
nificant. 

Many  historians  assert  that  Lord  Baltimore  had 
a  secret  understanding  with  Charles  I.  It  is  more 
probable  that  he  and  Calvert  were  shrewd  enough 
to  see  what  would  be  gained  by  strict  impartial- 
ity. The  only  two  troubles  of  a  religious  char- 
acter were  made  by  Roman  Catholics  and  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  Governor  punished  the  offenders. 
Church  property  paid  taxes.  The  priests  did  mar- 
velous missionary  work  among  the  Indians  and 
converted  most  of  the  Protestants  who  immi- 
grated. But  any  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Jesuits 
to  interfere  with  secular  matters  was  sternly  put 
down,  and  the  special  privileges  they  had  arro- 
gated to  themselves  were  taken  away. 

Maryland  flourished  from  the  start.  The  first 
settlement,  which  was  named  St.  Mary's,  was  on 
the  George  River,  nine  miles  from  its  junction 
with  the  Potomac.  Its  site  was  chosen  as  wisely 
as  that  of  Jamestown  was  selected  unwisely.  The 
place  was  already  occupied  by  a  Yacomoco  Indian 
village,  surrounded  by  corn-fields. 

Calvert  bought  all  the  huts  and  all  the  cleared 
land,  giving  knives,  axes,  hoes  and  cloth  in  re- 
turn and  paying  fairly  for  value  received.  Also, 
he  hired  many  of  the  Indians,  some  as  laborers, 
some  as  hunters,  others  as  fishers.  These,  too, 
were  honorably  paid.  The  Maryland  settlers  thus 
became  the  protectors  and  benefactors  of  the  In- 


124        THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

dians,  whereas  the  Virginia  settlers  had  been  in- 
vaders and  foes. 

The  immediate  result  of  this  Indian  friendli- 
ness was  that,  in  the  very  first  year,  the  colonists 
of  St.  Mary's  harvested  so  large  a  crop  of  corn 
that  they  had  a  ship-load  to  spare.  This  they  sent 
to  New  England  to  trade  for  salt  fish  and  other 
provision.  They  could  also  trade  with  Virginia 
for  supplies.  Prosperity  was  immediate  and 
high-grade  colonists  volunteered. 

Maryland,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  was  a  palat- 
inate, and  Lord  Baltimore's  plans  were  feudal. 
He  created  " manors,"  which  were  lordships  on  a 
small  scale.  But  the  actual  conditions  of  life  in 
America  prevented  the  building  up  of  an  aristoc- 
racy. The  tobacco  plantations  were  large  and 
far  apart.  Industrious  "servants"  became  f reed- 
men,  and  mechanics  soon  earned  enough  to  be- 
come land-owners.  The  Assembly  developed 
along  democratic  lines,  while  keeping  to  the  out- 
ward form  of  the  palatinate. 

In  spite  of  Maryland's  prosperity,  trouble  was 
in  the  air.  Claiborne  was  still  breathing  revenge. 
The  Kent  Island  sore  still  rankled.  Maryland  and 
Virginia  hung  on  the  verge  of  war. 

When  Governor  Calvert  landed  at  Jamestown 
with  the  Ark  and  the  Dove,  in  February,  1634, 
one  of  his  first  acts  was  to  notify  Claiborne  to 
abandon  his  claim  to  Kent  Island.  Claiborne  re- 
fused. The  House  of  Burgesses  supported  him. 
Then  Governor  Harvey  of  Virginia  who  was  a 


THE  KENT  ISLAND  FIGHT  125 

Royal  Governor  and  therefore  an  appointee  of 
the  King,  opposed  the  House  of  Burgesses,  dis- 
missed Claiborne  from  office  and  appointed  a 
friend  of  Lord  Baltimore  in  his  stead.  This  en- 
raged the  Virginians  against  their  own  Governor. 

Calvert,  who  was  under  rigid  instruction  to 
keep  the  peace,  sailed  north  without  further 
threats.  He  ignored  Kent  Island,  and  gave  his 
time  to  the  development  of  his  colony. 

Claiborne,  however,  had  other  enemies  besides 
the  Marylanders.  As  the  Royal  Commissioners 
had  pointed  out,  Kent  Island  was  not  a  plantation 
but  a  trading  post,  and  Claiborne  was  in  partner- 
ship with  some  London  merchants  who  had  pro- 
cured for  him  a  royal  license  to  trade  in  furs  and 
to  establish  trading  posts  in  any  unoccupied  part 
of  North  America.  This  was  not  a  monopoly. 
There  was  a  rival  fur  trading  company  in  Lon- 
don, which  had  engaged  Captain  Fleet  to  go  to 
Virginia  for  the  purpose  of  ousting  Claiborne  and 
taking  the  entire  fur  trade  for  itself. 

Fleet  started  a  rumor  that  Claiborne  was  in- 
flaming the  Indians  to  attack  the  Marylanders. 
According  to  this  version,  Claiborne  had  informed 
the  Indians  that  the  men  of  the  Calvert  colony 
were  "papist  Spaniards,  not  Protestant  English- 
men" and  therefore  enemies  to  the  Virginians  and 
their  Indian  allies. 

There  was  neither  proof  nor  likelihood  that 
Claiborne  had  started  any  such  dangerous  pro- 
ceeding, but  the  fur  company  which  sought  the 


126       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Virginian's  downfall  saw  to  it  that  the  rumor 
reached  the  ears  of  Lord  Baltimore  in  London. 
Accordingly,  the  Lord  Proprietor  prepared  an 
order  to  Governor 'Calve rt,  instructing  him  to  go 
to  Kent  Island  and  arrest  Claiborne. 

The  opposing  company  of  fur  merchants 
promptly  petitioned  the  King,  pointing  out  that 
royal  orders  had  been  issued  enjoining  peace  be- 
tween Virginia  and  Maryland.  Charles  I  imme- 
diately warned  Lord  Baltimore  from  "interrupt- 
ing the  people  of  Kent  Island  in  their  fur  trade 
or  plantation. '  * 

Fleet's  men,  supported  by  the  Marylanders,  and 
Claiborne 's  men,  backed  by  the  Virginians,  lived 
in  a  continual  feud.  Each  month  that  passed  saw 
Maryland  and  Virginia  more  embittered  with  each 
other.  Early  in  April,  1635,  one  of  Claiborne 's 
ships  was  captured  by  Fleet  in  what  were  claimed 
to  be  Maryland  waters  and  the  ship  and  cargo 
were  confiscated. 

So  far,  Claiborne  had  refrained  from  open  war- 
fare, but  this  was  too  much.  With  a  handful  of 
men  he  determined  to  invade  Maryland,  hoping  to 
lead  Virginia  to  follow  him  into  war.  He  sent  an 
armed  sloop,  the  Cockatrice  with  instructions  to 
destroy  all  such  Maryland  shipping  as  she  could 
find. 

Calvert  was  not  to  be  caught  napping.  He 
knew  Claiborne 's  pugnacious  character  and  ex- 
pected just  such  an  action.  Accordingly,  the  very 
day  after  the  confiscation  of  Claiborne 's  ship,  he 


THE  KENT  ISLAND  FIGHT  127 

sent  two  armed  pinnaces  to  guard  his  outlying 
plantations.  The  pinnaces  met  the  Cockatrice  in 
the  Pocomoke  River.  Claiborne  's  men  opened  fire 
and  a  brisk  fight  occurred,  in  which  the  Cockatrice 
was  captured,  with  six  men  killed  and  many 
wounded. 

The  seizure  of  the  Cockatrice  enraged  Virginia. 
An  indignation  meeting  was  held  at  Jamestown, 
the  principal  speaker  being  Nicholas  Martain,  an 
ancestor  of  George  Washington.  Resolutions 
were  passed  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  House  of  Bur- 
gesses to  receive  complaints  against  Governor 
Harvey,  for  treason  to  the  colony  in  the  Kent  Is- 
land affair  and  for  other  causes,  beside. 

Next  morning,  Martain  and  other  popular  lead- 
ers were  arrested.  When  they  demanded  the 
cause  of  their  arrest,  Governor  Harvey  replied 
that  ".they  should  find  out  at  the  gallows. " 

Two  days  later,  the  Council  met.  Harvey  de- 
manded that  Martain  and  the  other  prisoners 
should  be  put  to  death  under  martial  law.  The 
Council  refused,  insisting  that  the  laws  of  Vir- 
ginia guaranteed  to  every  man  a  fair  trial.  The 
Governor  promptly  arrested  one  of  the  council- 
lors "on  suspicion  of  treason."  Two  other  of 
the  councillors  seized  the  Governor  on  the  same 
charge.  Armed  patriots  were  in  waiting.  Harvey 
was  seized,  escorted  to  his  house  and  held  there 
a  prisoner.  On  May  7,  the  House  of  Burgesses  ap- 
proved the  acts  of  the  Council. 

Meantime,  Claiborne  was  fighting  his  own  bat- 


128       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

ties.  After  a  couple  of  little  skirmishes,  in  which 
he  got  the  best  of  it,  he  came  out  in  force  against 
Governor  Calvert,  an  island  trading  post  against 
a  large  colony.  The  two  fleets  of  small  craft  met 
in  the  harbor  of  Great  Wighcocomoco  and  action 
was  joined  at  once.  Claiborne,  after  several  hours 
of  fighting,  defeated  the  Marylanders  with  con- 
siderable loss  of  life. 

Although  Claiborne  had  showed  his  ability  to 
take  care  of  himself,  Virginia  had  got  herself  into 
trouble  by  her  partisanship.  Such  a  radical  ac- 
tion as  dismissing  a  Royal  Governor  could  not  be 
expected  to  please  the  King  who  had  appointed 
him.  Charles  I  was  furious  with  the  House  of 
Burgesses  and  restored  Harvey  to  his  post. 

There  was,  however,  a  third  complication  in  the 
Kent  Island  affair.  Claiborne  had  secured  his 
revenge,  Virginia  had  been  humbled  by  Charles 
I,  but  the  London  merchants,  who  cared  only  for 
furs,  saw  their  profits  vanishing  and  decided  to 
abandon  Claiborne.  In  December,  1636,  they  sent 
George  Evelin  as  their  agent  to  Kent  Island. 
Evelin  at  first  showed  friendship  to  Claiborne, 
but  when  that  fighter  refused  to  listen  to  the  Lon- 
don merchants  and  could  think  and  talk  of  nothing 
but  his  personal  grievances  against  the  Maryland- 
ers, the  new  agent  displayed  his  papers  and 
claimed  ownership  of  all  Claiborne 's  stock  in  the 
company,  without  compensation. 

Claiborne,  who  could  never  be  blamed  for  lack 
of  daring,  called  together  such  of  his  men  as  were 


THE  KENT  ISLAND  FIGHT  129 

faithful  to  him  and  sailed  away.  Apparently  with 
the  deliberate  intention  of  annoying  the  Maryland- 
ers,  he  established  another  trading  post  in  his  ene- 
mies' territory,  on  Palmer  Island,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Susquehanna  River.  After  taking  posses- 
sion of  this  place — to  which  he  could  claim  no 
right  whatever — he  sailed  for  England. 

On  Claiborne's  departure,  Evelin,  acting  for 
the  London  merchants,  urged  the  Kent  Islanders 
to  abandon  their  leaders  and  to  accept  the  pro- 
tection of  Lord  Baltimore,  whereby  they  would 
better  themselves.  As  all  the  men  at  the  post  were 
Virginians,  and  regarded  themselves  as  an  ad- 
vance garrison,  they  scorned  this  treacherous  ad- 
vice. 

Upon  this  refusal,  Evelin  sent  a  message  to 
Governor  Calvert,  urging  him  to  come  and  take 
the  island  by  force.  The  governor  was  unwilling 
to  do  so.  But  Evelin  clearly  let  it  be  seen  that 
Calvert 's  hesitation  might  be  regarded  by  Lord 
Baltimore  as  weakness,  and  the  governor  of 
Maryland  agreed  to  the  seizure.  In  February, 
1638,  he  landed  a  small  force  by  night  and  reduced 
the  island  to  submission. 

The  month  following,  the  Maryland  Assembly 
declared  Claiborne  a  rebel  and  ordered  that  all  his 
property  be  confiscated.  Captain  Thomas  Smith, 
who  had  been  in  command  of  Claiborne's  fleet  at 
the  battle  of  Great  Wighcocomoco,  was  arrested, 
tried  for  piracy  and  murder,  and  hanged.  This 
injustice  is  a  sore  blot  on  Calvert 's  reputation. 


130       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Virginia  prepared  for  war.  Calvert  had  been 
forbidden  by  the  King  to  interfere  with  the  trad- 
ing rights  of  Kent  Island.  Protestant  Virgin- 
ians had  been  stripped  of  their  rights  and  their 
property  by  Roman  Catholic  Marylanders.  Civil 
strife  would  have  begun  at  once  if  it  had  not  been 
for  the  royalist  governor  of  Virginia,  who  was  a 
friend  of  the  Marylanders,  and  who  insisted  that 
war  should  not  be  made  without  a  royal  order. 
This  added  to  the  hatred  with  which  he  was  re- 
garded, but  Harvey  stood  firm. 

On  April  6,  1638,  the  Royal  Commissioners  as- 
signed Kent  Island  to  Maryland  and  left  the  ques- 
tion of  personal  compensation  to  be  decided  by 
the  courts.  Claiborne  returned  to  Virginia  and 
began  suit  to  recover  his  property,  but  the  courts 
of  Maryland  declared  that  they  could  not  receive 
a  case  brought  by  "  a  declared  rebel. ' '  Thus  Kent 
Island  and  Palmer  Island  remained  in  the  hands 
of  Lord  Baltimore,  and  Claiborne  and  his  part- 
ners got  nothing. 

Even  so,  there  was  a  chance  that  the  fighter  of 
Kent  Island  would  enforce  his  rights  by  bringing 
the  power  of  Virginia  to  bear.  Again  Governor 
Harvey  checked  the  popular  move.  He  issued  a 
proclamation,  accepting  Virginia's  loss  of  the  dis- 
puted spot.  This  aroused  so  tremendous  a  storm 
against  the  governor  that  even  the  King  was  com- 
pelled to  act.  Wyatt  was  sent  to  depose  Harvey, 
the  ex-Governor's  property  was  seized  to  satisfy 
his  numerous  creditors  and  he  was  sent  home  in 


THE  KENT  ISLAND  FIGHT  131 

disgrace.  Wyatt  stayed  but  two  years,  when  he 
gave  place  to  Sir  William  Berkeley,  with  whose 
name  the  second  phase  of  Virginia 's  history  is  in- 
separably connected. 

Such  was  the  general  feeling  of  mutual  hatred 
between  Virginia  and  Maryland,  when  civil  war 
broke  out  in  England  between  King  and  Parlia- 
ment. This  civil  war  ended  in  the  victory  of  the 
Puritans,  the  beheading  of  Charles  I,  and  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  Commonwealth  under  Oliver 
Cromwell. 

This  revolution  had  an  important  influence  on 
the  American  colonies,  but  Cromwell's  power  did 
not  last  long  enough  to  alter  the  individual  char- 
acters of  such  differing  states  as  Virginia  and 
Maryland.  Both,  however,  had  already  drifted 
far  from  England ;  their  Americanization  had  be- 
gun. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  GALLANTRY  OF  FRANCE 

Romance  and  suffering  marked  the  adventuring 
of  the  English  on  American  shores.  Not  less  strik- 
ing were  the  adventures  of  the  first  French  colo- 
nists and  not  less  pitiful. 

England's  claim  to  North  America  was  not  un- 
questioned. Men  of  an  equally  gallant  race  also 
were  ready  to  plant  their  country's  flag  on  a  dis- 
tant shore,  and  were  willing  to  agonize  and  die  to 
keep  it  there.  France's  claim  was  fully  as  good  as 
that  of  England  and  for  centuries  it  was  doubt- 
ful which  of  the  two  great  powers  would  become 
the  master  of  the  continent. 

The  colonial  policy  of  England  was  marked  by 
a  callous  disregard  of  the  rights  of  other  nations. 
When  Elizabeth  gave  North  America  to  Raleigh, 
when  James  I  gave  continental  Virginia  to  two 
trading  companies,  and  when  Charles  I  granted 
Carolina  and  Maryland  to  Sir  Robert  Heath  and 
Lord  Baltimore,  the  three  monarchs  bestowed  land 
which  was  not  theirs  to  give.  , 

The  Spanish  right  was  a  century  earlier  than 
that  of  England ;  the  French  right  was  half  a  cen- 
tury earlier.  No  effort  was  made  by  any  of  these 

132 


THE  GALLANTRY  OF  FRANCE    183 

three  nations  to  arbitrate  each  other's  claims. 
The  policy  of  grab  prevailed  universally.  Each 
nation  and  each  adventurer  set  out  to  seize  what 
might  be  seized,  and  to  maintain  his  holding  either 
by  force  or  trickery. 

The  claims  of  France  were  based  on  more  pio- 
neer work  than  that  of  England.  The  explora- 
tions of  Verrazano  might  be  offset  by  those  of 
Cabot,  but  the  French  had  acted  upon  their  dis- 
coveries, while  the  English  had  not.  French  fish- 
ermen had  long  exploited  the  Newfoundland  fish- 
eries before  English  "admirals"  bullied  them  into 
a  partnership,  and  fur  trading  posts  had  been  or- 
ganized by  the  merchants  of  St.  Malo. 

It  was  on  the  work  of  Jacques  Cartier,  how- 
ever, that  the  French  claim  rested  most  solidly. 
On  his  Second  Voyage,  in  1534-1535,  more  than 
fifty  years  before  the  first  English  landing  at  Roa- 
noke,  Cartier  explored  the  Gulf  and  River  of  St. 
Lawrence,  built  a  fort  at  Quebec,  made  friends 
with  the  Iroquois  and  remained  a  winter  in  the 
country.  He  thus  led  the  way  for  the  founding 
of  New  France. 

Five  years  later,  on  January  15,  1540,  Francis 
I  of  France  granted  to  the  Sieur  de  Roberval  the 
viceroyalty  of  North  America.  Roberval  was 
named  "Lord  of  Norumbega,  Viceroy  and  Lieu- 
tenant-General of  Canada,  Hochelaga,  Saguenay, 
Belle  Isle,  Carpunt,  Labrador,  the  Great  Bay  and 
Baccalaos."  This  territory  extended  from  Mas- 
sachusetts to  the  North  Pole,  but  this  was  sup- 


134       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

posed  to  be  the  extreme  northeast  corner  of  Asia. 
At  that  time,  Florida  was  still  regarded  as  an 
eastward  projection  of  China. 

Cartier,  as  Pilot-General  for  the  King,  was  to 
aid  Roberval  in  the  establishment  of  the  colony. 
Roberval  bade  him  go  in  advance,  promising  to 
follow  in  a  few  weeks  as  soon  as  he  had  gathered 
supplies  and  men.  Cartier  set  sail  in  May,  1541, 
and  waited  all  summer  for  the  coming  of  Roberval. 

This  delay  was  dangerous.  Cartier  had  come 
without  supplies  for  a  long  stay  and  yet  was  com- 
pelled to  remain  through  the  winter.  The  In- 
dians showed  signs  of  discontent.  In  the  spring 
of  1542,  Cartier  set  sail,  rightly  blaming  Roberval 
for  the  winter's  suffering  and  the  deaths  of  many 
of  his  men. 

In  the  harbor  of  St.  John's,  Newfoundland,  he 
met  Roberval,  who  had  just  arrived.  There  was 
a  stormy  scene  between  the  two  men.  Cartier 
was  too  angry  at  Roberval 's  delay  to  be  willing 
to  turn  back,  and  he  refused,  point  blank,  to  obey 
the  Viceroy's  orders. 

Cartier 's  resentment  had  been  heightened  by 
the  account  of  a  pitiful  story  which  had  been  told 
him  by  one  of  Roberval 's  officers,  just  before  his 
audience  with  the  Viceroy.  This  was  that  tragic 
incident  known  to  history  as  "The  Romance  of 
Marguerite. ' ' 

Among -the  settlers  on  Roberval 's  flagship  was 
his  niece,  Marguerite  Roberval,  twenty  years  of 
age  and  who  had  been  brought  up  in  comfort  and 


THE  GALLANTRY  OF  FRANCE    135 

luxury.  She  was  a  Roman  Catholic.  There  was 
also  on  board  the  ship  a  young  Huguenot  (Protes- 
tant) gentleman,  of  good  family,  though  poor. 
The  two  young  people  fell  in  love,  and  despite  the 
rigid  discipline  on  the  ship,  Marguerite's  old 
nurse  contrived  secret  meetings  for  the  lovers. 

When  Roberval  learned  of  these  meetings,  he 
flamed  with  rage.  That  his  niece  should  have 
fallen  in  love  was  bad  enough,  that  she  should 
have  pledged  herself  without  her  uncle's  permis- 
sion was  worse,  but  that  the  favored  suitor  should 
be  a  Protestant  was  beyond  pardon. 

The  vessel,  at  this  time,  was  within  sight  of  a 
small  island,  greatly  dreaded  by  fishermen.  This 
was  known  as  "The  Isle  of  Fiends,"  for  fishers 
reported  that  strange  sounds  were  constantly  to 
be  heard  coming  from  it. 

Roberval  ordered  his  captain  to  steer  for  the 
island  and  the  flagship  dropped  her  anchor  there. 
He  commanded  that  a  small  boat  be  put  out.  In 
this  were  placed  Marguerite  and  her  old  nurse, 
with  a  few  months'  provisions,  some  guns  and 
ammunition.  The  two  women  were  set  ashore  and 
the  boat  rowed  back  to  the  ship. 

Dusk  was  falling  when  these  victims  of  Rober- 
val's  tyranny  were  marooned.  The  anchor  of  the 
flagship  was  raised.  Just  as  the  wind  filled  the 
vessel's  sails  and  her  bow  turned  again  to  the 
westward,  there  was  a  cry  and  a  splash.  The 
young  Huguenot  had  leapt  into  the  sea.  Being  a 
strong  swimmer,  he  managed  to  make  the  land. 


136       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Before  darkness  blotted  out  the  scene,  the  watch- 
ers on  the  flagship  saw  the  young  fellow  reach  the 
shore,  throw  one  arm  around  his  betrothed  and 
brandish  the  other  in  defiance  of  Eoberval  and 
all  his  crew. 

Upon  the  Isle  of  Fiends — later  to  be  known  as 
the  Island  of  Marguerite — the  summer  passed 
pleasantly  enough.  The  young  husband  was  able 
to  do  some  fishing  from  the  beach,  and  the  pro- 
visions held  out  well.  Daily  they  looked  for  some 
passing  fishing  vessel,  but  autumn  came  and  no 
rescuers  had  appeared.  The  provisions  were  al- 
most exhausted. 

Late  in  the  autumn,  Marguerite's  little  daugh- 
ter was  born,  the  first  white  girl  born  in  what  is 
now  British  America.  The  baby  did  not  linger 
long,  but  died  a  few  weeks  later,  since  the  starv- 
ing mother  could  not  nourish  the  child. 

An  Arctic  winter  piled  up  the  beach  with  ice. 
No  fish  were  to  be  caught.  There  was  no  hope 
of  rescue,  for  all  the  fishers  had  gone  home  for 
the  season.  The  little  hut,  built  for  the  summer, 
afforded  scant  protection  against  the  icy  blasts. 
The  old  nurse  succumbed  to  the  rigors  of  the  cli- 
mate before  Christmas. 

The  young  husband  starved  himself  in  order 
that  his  bride  might  have  what  small  store  of  pro- 
visions remained.  While  in  this  emaciated  state, 
he  shot  at,  but  only  wounded,  a  Polar  bear.  The 
infuriated  animal  turned  on  him,  and,  in  the  man's 
weak  state,  he  was  unable  to  defend  himself.  He 


THE  GALLANTRY  OF  FRANCE    137 

was  killed  and  partly  eaten,  the  bloody  remains 
remaining  on  the  beach  for  the  wife  to  see. 

Marguerite  was  left  alone  on  the  Isle  of  Fiends. 

Though  harassed  by  superstitious  fears  and 
menaced  by  wild  beasts,  the  desolate  woman  strug- 
gled on  alone.  She  killed  a  few  Arctic  foxes,  who 
had  come  over  the  ice,  some  seals  and  three  polar 
bears  and  lived  on  their  meat.  For  two  long  years 
she  dragged  out  a  precarious  existence. 

Then,  as  it  chanced,  the  crew  of  a  French  fish- 
ing smack,  driven  out  of  its  course  by  a  gale,  saw 
a  woman  on  the  dreaded  island.  Even  so,  her  res- 
cue was  uncertain.  The  sailors  mutinied  at  the 
captain's  orders  to  land,  declaring  that  a  woman 
who  was  living  on  the  Isle  of  Fiends  could  not 
have  escaped  being  the  wife  of  a  demon,  and  must 
be  a  sorceress  herself. 

The  captain  of  the  fishing  vessel  was  less  su- 
perstitious. He  forced  his  men  to  go,  yielding 
to  their  fears  only  in  promising  that  the  woman 
would  have  to  give  a  proper  account  of  herself 
before  he  would  take  her  on  the  vessel.  Only  by 
showing  the  bones  of  her  dead  husband  and  her 
baby  was  Marguerite  able  to  free  herself  of  the 
suspicion  of  witchcraft.  The  remains  of  the  ani- 
mals that  she  had  killed  proved  that  she  had  not 
subsisted  on  ' '  demon  food. ' '  The  captain  believed 
her  story,  and  she  reached  France  in  safety  at  the 
last. 

Meantime,  the  Sieur  de  Roberval,  confident  in 
the  justice  of  his  cruel  sentence,  sailed  on  to  the 


138        THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

St.  Lawrence.  He  dropped  anchor  at  Cap  Rouge 
and  there  made  his  first  settlement.  A  huge  build- 
ing was  erected,  half  barracks  and  half  castle.  All 
the  settlers  lived  in  it  together. 

The  elaborate  character  of  Cap  Rouge  Castle 
betrayed  how  little  Roberval  had  foreseen  the 
needs  of  pioneer  life.  There  were  store-chambers, 
without  stores  in  them;  millstones  for  grinding, 
but  no  grist ;  enormous  ovens,  and  but  small  loaves 
of  bread  to  bake.  Wild  roots  boiled  in  whale-oil 
formed  the  principal  food.  Scurvy  slew  one-third 
of  the  settlers,  and,  lacking  Cartier  's  aid,  they  did 
not  know  how  to  cure  the  dread  disease. 

The  Lord  of  Norumbega  was  too  self-impor- 
tant to  make  concessions  to  the  hardships  of  pio- 
neer life.  The  most  prominent  thing  in  the  set- 
tlement was  the  whipping  post,  "by  means  of 
which,"  the  historian  of  the  expedition  naively 
writes,  "we  lived  in  peace."  The  settlers  were 
kept  at  hard  labor  on  scanty  food.  The  military 
rule  was  harsh,  six  soldiers  being  hanged  in  one 
day.  "So  many  men  and  women  were  whipped 
or  shot,"  writes  the  historian,  "that  the  Indians, 
pagans  though  they  be,  wept  at  their  woes." 

The  following  spring,  with  half  his  men  dead, 
Roberval  went  on  to  Quebec.  He  strengthened  the 
fort  and  made  some  extensive  explorations  in- 
land. The  Indians  were  unfriendly,  as  Cartier 
had  warned.  Fearing  that  a  second  winter  might 
annihilate  the  colony,  Roberval  abandoned  all  his 
projects  and  sailed  for  home. 


THE  GALLANTRY  OF  FRANCE    139 

So  ended  the  first  effort  to  found  New  France. 

Further  attempts  at  French  colonization  during 
the  sixteenth  century  were  prevented  by  the  out- 
break of  civil  war  in  France  between  the  Catho- 
lics and  the  Huguenots  (Protestants),  also  by 
the  wars  with  Spain  and  Austria. 

Admiral  Coligny,  indeed,  made  two  ill-starred 
attempts  to  found  Huguenot  colonies  on  the  River 
of  May,  but  disaster  and  Spanish  massacre  ended 
both  these.  His  assassination  in  1572,  on  bloody 
St.  Bartholomew's  Eve,  put  a  close  to  Huguenot 
colonization. 

In  1589,  Henry  III  of  France  died,  and  Henry 
of  Navarre,  the  leader  of  the  Protestants,  claimed 
the  throne.  More  than  half  of  France  refused  to 
recognize  him  and  the  civil  war  continued.  Henry 
of  Navarre,  or  Henry  IV,  saw  that  it  was  hopeless 
for  him  to  be  accepted  as  king  by  the  whole  na- 
tion so  long  as  he  remained  a  Protestant.  In 
1 593,  he  formally  became  a  Roman  Catholic,  while 
remaining  strongly  Protestant  in  his  sympathies. 

Five  years  of  fighting  with  enemies  abroad  and 
foes  at  home  resulted  in  triumph.  The  Peace  of 
Vervius  was  signed,  ending  the  Spanish  War,  and 
on  May  2, 1598,  the  famous  Edict  of  Nantes  was  is- 
sued. This  edict  gave  to  the  Protestants  all  the 
rights  and  liberties  of  which  they  had  been  de- 
prived during  the  preceding  reigns. 

Peace  promotes  colonization.  It  releases  capi- 
tal, and  throws  into  idleness  numbers  of  adven- 
turous men  who  need  a  new  outlet  for  their  vigor. 


140       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Just  as  the  ending  of  the  English  war  with  Spain 
brought  about  the  colonization  of  Virginia,  so 
the  ending  of  the  French  war  with  Spain  sent  colo- 
nists to  New  France. 

Cartier's  nephews,  Jacques  Noel  and  Etienne 
de  la  Jannaye,  had  succeeded  to  his  rights  on  their 
uncle's  death.  But  the  religious  wars  had  added 
rancor  to  the  trade  rivalry  between  competing 
ports.  The  ships  of  Cartier's  nephews  were  at- 
tacked at  sea  and  burned  in  port,  by  their  trade 
rivals.  Piracy  was  heightened  by  religious  hate. 

Noel  and  de  la  Jannaye  had  secured  a  renewal 
of  their  grant.  But  the  merchants  of  St.  Malo 
made  so  vigorous  a  protest  at  this  fur  and  fish- 
ing monopoly  and  the  times  were  so  critical,  that, 
in  order  to  maintain  peace,  the  King  revoked  the 
grant.  Trading  on  the  shores  of  Newfoundland 
and  along  the  St.  Lawrence  continued  on  the  basis 
of  competitive  piracy. 

Between  1593,  when  Henry  of  Navarre  became 
a  Eoman  Catholic,  and  1598  when  the  Edict  of 
Nantes  was  signed,  French  colonization  in  Amer- 
ica took  on  a  new  phase.  The  Marquis  De  la 
Eoche,  formerly  page  to  Queen  Catherine  of 
Medici — an  uncompromising  Catholic — was  ap- 
pointed "  Lieutenant-General  of  Acadia,  Canada 
and  the  surrounding  countries."  The  conditions 
of  the  grant  made  De  la  Roche  a  despot. 

The  territorial  limits  were  vague.  Canada — a 
Mohawk  Indian  word  for  " village" — meant  the 
St.  Lawrence  Gulf  and  River  as  far  inland  as  had 


THE  GALLANTRY  OF  FRANCE    141 

been  explored.  Acadia  meant  the  coast  as  far 
south  as  "the  northernmost  limit  of  Florida," 
wherever  that  might  be.  The  English  settlement 
at  Roanoke  was  entirely  ignored.  The  ( i  surround- 
ing countries"  was  a  phrase  which  left  the  whole 
question  of  territory  wide  open.  Apparently  De 
la  Roche  regarded  Cape  Cod  as  the  southern  limit 
of  his  grant. 

Some  time  after  receiving  this  commission 
(probably  in  1598)  De  la  Roche  and  his  60  colo- 
nists set  out  for  Acadia  in  the  Catherine  and  the 
Frangoise.  Many  of  his  men  were  jail-birds. 
Mutiny  soon  showed  its  ugly  head.  A  desperate 
effort  was  made  to  seize  the  ships  and  convert 
them  into  pirate  craft.  The  mutiny  was  sup- 
pressed and  the  ringleaders  put  in  irons,  but  De 
la  Roche  did  not  dare  to  carry  these  piratic  ex- 
convicts  with  him  any  further. 

Reaching  Sable  Island,  a  small  and  nearly  bar- 
ren sand-bank  off  Nova  Scotia,  he  set  the  40  muti- 
neers ashore.  The  island  was  without  vegetation 
save  for  a  little  sparse  grass  and  moss  around 
a  small  brackish  lake,  and  a  few  whortleberry  and 
cranberry  bushes  in  the  swampy  places. 

With  but  16  loyal  colonists  remaining  (four 
had  died  on  the  voyage)  De  la  Roche  sailed  on  to 
Acadia,  seeking  a  good  site  for  a  settlement.  He 
found  none  that  pleased  him  but  at  last  decided 
to  build  a  fort  on  the  coast  of  Maine.  Attempt- 
ing to  return  to  Sable  Island  to  pick  up  the  would- 


142        THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

be  pirates,  his  ship  was  caught  in  a  western  gale 
and  driven  halfway  across  the  ocean. 

Being  near  home  and  the  wind  still  favoring,  De 
la  Koche  decided  to  return  for  more  men  and  sup- 
plies. Immediately  upon  his  landing,  however,  he 
was  arrested  and  thrown  into  prison  by  the  Duke 
de  Mercoeur,  who  claimed  sovereign  power  in 
Brittany,  and  who  held  that  Breton  rights  had 
been  ignored  in  De  la  Eoche 's  grant. 

De  la  Eoche  appealed  to  the  Eouen  parliament, 
asking  to  be  freed  and  to  be  allowed  to  take  more 
men  to  Acadia.  He  was  released  on  the  condition 
that  he  make  no  further  efforts  at  colonization. 
De  la  Eoche  submitted,  only  urging  that  a  rescue 
expedition  be  sent  to  Sable  Island.  He  had  but  lit- 
tle success,  for  the  men  of  Eouen  thought  that 
death  on  a  desert  island  was  a  sufficiently  good 
ending  for  a  pack  of  mutinous  jail-birds.  It  was 
not  until  five  years  had  passed  that  a  rescue  expe- 
dition was  sent. 

Of  the  forty  mutineers  who  had  been  left  on 
Sable  Island,  only  seven  remained  alive.  At  first 
they  had  lived  on  a  few  scrawny  cattle,  the  de- 
scendants of  those  left  on  the  island  by  an  expe- 
dition led  by  the  Baron  de  Lery  in  1518,  of  which 
expedition  little  definite  information  is  known. 

As  their  food  diminished,  the  ex-convicts  fought 
and  killed  each  other,  until,  by  the  spring  follow- 
ing, there  remained  but  twenty  of  them.  Eealiz- 
ing  that  their  disunion  only  brought  them  greater 
suffering,  they  adopted  communism — that  last 


Map   showing  tlio   English  and   Krendi  settlements,  the  results  of  their  warfare  in  Arcadia, 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  Maine. 


Map  made   by  Champlain  in   1632. 


THE   FRENCH    SETTLEMENTS    IN    THE    GULF    OF    ST.    LAWRENCE 


THE   SURRENDER   OF   THE   SETTLEMENT   OF   QUEBEC   IN    1629 

The  defeat  of  Admiral  Roquemont  by  the  English  fleet  under  Admiral  Kirke  opened 
the  way  for  an  attack  upon  Quebec  which  resulted  in  the  surrender  of  that  post  to 
the  English. 


THE  GALLANTRY  OF  FRANCE    143 

refuge  of  the  desperate.  They  kept  themselves 
alive  on  dead  fish  thrown  up  on  the  beach  and 
on  seals  which  they  were  able  to  club.  A  sick 
whale,  which  stranded  on  the  shore,  gave  them 
food  for  many  months. 

When,  at  last,  they  were  rescued,  they  were  in 
a  pitiable  state,  having  reached  the  condition  of 
wild  men.  Henry  IV  ordered  them  brought  before 
him,  in  the  same  state  as  they  were  found,  and 
gave  to  each  a  sum  of  money  and  his  freedom. 

"With  De  la  Roche  pledged  to  take  no  further 
action,  the  field  was  open.  On  November  22, 1599, 
Francois  Grave,  Sieur  du  Pont  (known  to  history 
as  Pontgrave)  took  up  the  work,  having  associ- 
ated with  him  Captain  Pierre  de  Chauvin,  for- 
merly Governor  of  Honfleur.  De  Chauvin  was  a 
prominent  ship-builder  of  St.  Malo  and  had  the 
confidence  of  the  Guild  of  Merchants. 

In  the  spring  of  1600,  de  Chauvin,  with  four 
vessels,  the  Don  de  Diev,  the  Bon  Espoir,  the  St. 
Jehan  and  the  Esperance  sailed  for  Tadoussac,  a 
famous  Indian  trading  post  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Saguenay  River,  thirty  miles  below  Quebec.  Af- 
ter a  season's  trading  he  left  16  men  as  the  nucleus 
of  a  settlement.  The  provisions  were  insufficient 
and  the  men  would  have  died  of  famine  if  the 
Montaignais  (Adirondack)  Indians  had  not  helped 
them.  De  Chauvin  made  two  more  trading  voy- 
ages, in  1601  and  in  1602,  but  left  no  settlers.  He 
fell  ill  on  his  third  voyage  and  retired  from  the 
partnership,  dying  a  year  later. 


144        THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Upon  Pontgrave 's  urging  the  Sieur  de  Chastes, 
vice-admiral  of  Normandy  and  Governor  of 
Dieppe  took  on  de  Chauvin's  privileges.  Dieppe 
was  the  map-making  and  nautical  center  of 
France.  De  Chastes  was  able  to  interest  many 
wealthy  ship-owners. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  winter  of  1602,  the  Com- 
pany of  New  France  was  formed.  This  was  a 
powerful  body  of  lords  and  merchants  from  the 
three  ports  of  St.  Malo,  Dieppe  and  Rouen.  The 
piratic  rivalry  which  ever  smouldered  between 
captains  of  these  ports  was  quelled  by  the  policy 
of  making  them  partners  in  the  scheme. 

Shrewd  as  was  this  alliance  and  important  as  it 
was  to  America,  still  more  decisive  was  the  ap- 
pointment of  Captain  Samuel  de  Champlain,  a  na- 
val officer  who  had  distinguished  himself  in  the 
West  Indies.  De  Chastes  assigned  him  to  the  ex- 
pedition, which  was  put  under  the  command  of 
Pontgrave.  He  was  to  prove  the  builder  of  New 
France. 

They  sailed  from  Honfleur  on  March  15,  1603, 
and  reached  Tadoussac  two  months '  later.  Thence 
Pontgrave  and  Champlain  sailed  up  the  St.  Law- 
rence, past  the  tenantless  fortifications  of  Quebec 
— where  France  would  have  been  solidly  estab- 
lished seventy  years  before  if  Roberval  had  kept 
his  word  to  Cartier — and  reached  the  site  of  Mont 
Royal  (Montreal).  No  vestige  remained  of  the 
great  Indian  town,  Hochelaga,  where  Cartier  had 
been  so  lavishly  entertained. 


THE  GALLANTRY  OF  FRANCE    145 

Continuing  on  their  journey,  they  came  to  the 
Falls  of  St.  Louis,  a  part  of  which  Cartier  had 
called  the  La  Chine  Rapids,  in  gloomy  jest  at 
finding  the  expected  route  to  China  barred  by 
them.  In  spite  of  every  effort,  Champlain  failed 
to  pass  these  rapids.  Winter  was  drawing  near, 
and  as  this  expedition  had  been  sent  to  explore 
rather  than  to  settle,  the  two  pioneers  returned 
to  France  to  make  their  report. 

When  they  reached  Honfleur,  it  was  to  learn  that 
de  Chastes  was  dead.  Pontgrave  and  Champlain 
sought  a  new  backer  and  found  him  in  the  Sieur 
de  Monts,  Governor  of  Pons,  who  applied  for  a 
new  grant  for  La  Cadie  or  Acadia. 

Recent  exploration  had  more  clearly  defined  the 
territory  to  be  known  as  New  France.  De  Monts ' 
grant  included  the  region  between  40°  and  46° 
(approximately  the  latitudes  of  Philadelphia  and 
Montreal).  This  grant  was  attacked  in  the  courts 
by  the  merchants  of  St.  Malo,  Rouen  and  Dieppe, 
but  de  Monts  was  skillful  enough  to  satisfy  every 
one  by  rebuilding  de  Chastes'  old  company.  A 
complication  arose  in  the  fact  that,  though  De 
Monts  was  a  Protestant,  as  were  several  others 
in  the  venture,  priests  must  accompany  the  ex- 
pedition and  the  Indians  must  be  baptized  and 
brought  up  in  the  Roman  Catholic  faith. 

De  Monts  and  Champlain,  with  several  promi- 
nent men  and  a  small  body  of  colonists,  sailed 
from  France  on  April  7,  1604.  Meeting  some  in- 
dependent fur  traders  from  St.  Malo  in  St.  Mary's 


146        THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Bay,  de  Monts  confiscated  both  craft  and  cargoes, 
as  interfering  with  his  monopoly.  For  this  piece 
of  autocratic  meddling,  he  was  to  pay  dearly  later. 

The  Bay  of  Fundy  was  thoroughly  explored  and 
finally  the  ships  entered  a  peaceful  stretch  of  wa- 
ter, with  hills  on  every  side,  now  known  as  An- 
napolis Harbor,  in  Nova  Scotia.  The  site  was  well 
adapted  for  a  small  settlement,  and  the  Baron  of 
Poutrincourt,  who  was  on  board,  asked  De  Monts 
for  a  patent  to  this  land,  offering  a  good  sum. 
De  Monts  agreed,  and  the  site  was  named  Port 
Royal.  The  River  St.  John  was  explored  for  some 
little  distance,  and  at  last  the  ships  cast  anchor 
in  Passamaquoddy  Bay. 

Since  the  expedition  was  in  an  unexplored 
country,  with  no  knowledge  whether  or  not  the  In- 
dians would  prove  friendly,  de  Monts  gave  all 
his  attention  to  finding  a  site  which  could  be  de- 
fended against  any  odds.  A  small  islet,  fenced 
round  with  rocks  was  selected  for  the  winter  set- 
tlement, and  named  St.  Croix. 

Poutrincourt  sailed  for  France,  to  get  men  and 
supplies  for  his  new  colony  of  Port  Royal.  De 
Monts  remained  as  the  feudal  lord  of  half  a  con- 
tinent, with  only  79  men  at  his  back,  Champlain 
among  them. 

No  gallantry,  however  great,  could  conquer 
cold.  Over  bleak  and  desolate  St.  Croix  the  wind 
howled  continually.  The  cider  and  the  wine  froze 
in  the  casks,  and  the  daily  rations  were  chopped 
off  and  thawed  for  drinking.  Scurvy  ravaged  the 


THE  GALLANTRY  OF  FRANCE    147 

settlers.  Of  the  79  men,  only  34  were  alive  in 
the  spring. 

On  Jnne  16,  1605,  Pontgrave  came  with  more 
supplies  and  40  men.  De  Monts  sailed  southward, 
at  once,  to  seek  a  less  dreary  site  for  the  colony, 
leaving  12  men  to  guard  St.  Croix.  He  touched  at 
Mt.  Desert,  Penobscot,  Kennebec,  Saco,  Ports- 
mouth Harbor,  the  Isle  of  Shoals,  Cape  Ann,  Cape 
Cod  and  finally  reached  Nausett  Harbor,  which 
appealed  to  him  most  of  all.  There  a  shore  party 
was  attacked  by  Indians  and  one  man  killed. 
Deeming  it  unwise  to  found  a  colony  in  the  teeth 
of  Indian  hostility,  de  Monts  returned  to  St. 
Croix. 

Silence  awaited  them.  Of  the  12  men  who  had 
been  left  to  guard  the  Habitations  of  St.  Croix, 
there  was  not  a  sign,  nor  were  they  ever  seen 
again.  Even  the  islet,  evidently,  was  not  safe 
from  attack.  Not  a  single  place  on  the  Maine  or 
Massachusetts  coast  had  pleased  de  Monts  and 
he  determined  to  go  to  Port  Royal,  although  that 
site  had  been  granted  to  Poutrincourt.  The  houses 
were  pulled  down,  their  timbers  and  material 
shipped  across  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  and  eager  hands 
set  to  work  to  build  the  first  town  of  New  France. 

Scarcely  two  weeks  had  passed,  however,  when 
a  small  ship  arrived,  sent  by  Poutrincourt,  warn- 
ing de  Monts  that  his  enemies  in  France  were 
working  actively  against  him,  and  there  was  dan- 
ger that  his  charter  might  be  revoked.  De  Monts 


148       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

sailed  at  once  for  France,  leaving  Pontgrave  and 
Champlain  in  command. 

This  winter  was  as  cold  as  the  preceding  one, 
but  the  site  of  Port  Royal  was  sheltered.  Cham- 
plain  formed  an  alliance  with  the  Indians,  and 
through  them  learned  of  the  properties  of  white 
pine  bark  as  a  cure  for  scurvy.  As  a  result, 
deaths  that  winter  were  comparatively  few. 

De  Monts  arrived  in  France  in  time  to  save  the 
charter,  but  his  enemies  were  so  numerous  that  he 
dared  not  leave  the  country.  He  persuaded  Marc 
Lescarbot,  lawyer  and  poet,  to  join  the  colonists, 
and  Lescarbot  proved  a  true  leader. 

For  this  next  supply,  the  Jonas  was  equipped 
in  Rochelle.  Trouble  resulted.  That  town  was 
not  only  jealous  of  St.  Malo,  Dieppe  and  Rouen, 
but  it  was  a  strong  Protestant  center  and  ob- 
jected strongly  to  the  conversion  of  the  Indians 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  faith.  Two  days  before 
the  date  set  for  sailing,  the  Jonas  was  scuttled  and 
sunk  in  Rochelle  Harbor.  With  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  and  expense  the  vessel  was  raised  again, 
but  the  accident  had  caused  delay.  It  was  not 
until  July  27,  1606,  that  the  Jonas  entered  Port 
Royal  basin. 

One  man,  carrying  a  gun  ran  down  to  the  beach 
and  fired  off  his  piece  in  greeting.  A  moment  la- 
ter one  of  the  cannons  of  the  fort  boomed  out  a 
salute.  Poutrincourt  and  Lescarbot  landed,  to 
find  that  their  welcomers  were  the  only  two  men 
at  Port  Royal. 


THE  GALLANTRY  OF  FRANCE         149 

Twelve  days  earlier,  Pontgrave  and  Champlain 
had  set  out  along  the  coast  in  two  small  boats  that 
they  had  built,  hoping  to  secure  supplies  from 
some  fishing  or  trading  schooner.  Poutrincourt 
immediately  sent  a  swift  sailing  shallop  after 
them.  Pontgrave  and  Champlain  were  found  a 
few  days  later  and  returned  joyously  to  Port 
Royal. 

Pontgrave  returned  to  France  in  the  Jonas, 
leaving  Lescarbot  in  charge  of  Port  Royal,  and 
advising  Poutrincourt  and  Champlain  to  find  a 
more  southern  site  for  a  colony.  Hyannis,  on  the 
southeastern  shore  of  Massachusetts  was  care- 
fully surveyed  but  not  deemed  entirely  suitable. 

At  last  they  found  what  seemed  a  perfect  site 
in  Chatham  Harbor.  But  a  party  of  six  men,  who 
had  been  sent  ashore  for  fresh  water  and  who  were 
camping  for  the  night  on  the  beach,  was  attacked 
by  Indians.  At  the  sound  of  the  first  shot,  Pou- 
trincourt and  Champlain  leaped  from  their  bunks 
and,  "in  their  night  attire,"  says  the  historian, 
"pulled  most  valiantly  to  the  beach  in  rescue  of 
their  comrades,  firing  their  pieces  as  they  went." 
It  was  a  gallant  deed,  for  rarely  did  the  white 
men  face  the  Indians,  except  in  armor.  Two  men 
of  the  shore  party  were  wounded  by  arrows,  but 
not  fatally.  Chatham  Harbor  was  abandoned. 

On  their  return,  the  two  leaders  found  Port 
Royal  flourishing.  Lescarbot  was  a  wonderful 
leader.  Agriculture  was  his  hobby  and  he  was 
himself  an  extraordinarily  hard  worker,  in  the 


150       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

fields  before  dawn  and  after  dark.  He  had  burned 
the  grass  off  the  flats  and  had  sown  wheat,  rye 
and  barley,  of  which  a  good  crop  was  harvested. 

More  important  still,  he  had  developed  into  a 
warm  friendship  the  alliance  with  the  Indians 
that  had  been  begun  by  Champlain  the  preceding 
winter.  Some  of  the  natives,  including  Member- 
ton,  their  chief,  had  been  partly  prepared  for 
Catholic  baptism,  according  to  the  requirements 
of  the  charter.  The  rite  had  not  been  solemnized, 
however,  as  the  two  priests  had  died. 

It  was  here  that  arose  one  of  the  strangest  and 
most  picturesque  developments  of  all  the  early 
colonizations  of  America — "The  Order  of  Good 
Fare."  It  formed  an  extraordinary  contrast  to 
such  a  state  of  affairs  as  had  developed  among  the 
English  in  "The  Starving  Time." 

The  plan  had  been  devised  by  Lescarbot.  In 
brief,  it  was  a  banqueting  club,  in  which  every 
member  of  the  expedition  was  required  to  provide 
the  food  for  one  day.  On  that  day,  he  was  the 
Master  of  the  Feast.  There  was  a  constant 
friendly  rivalry  as  to  which  man  would  be  the  best 
host. 

One  of  the  Indian  chiefs  was  generally  present 
as  an  honored  guest  of  the  Frenchmen,  and  Les- 
carbot made  it  a  rule  that  there  should  always 
be  food  for  the  lesser  warriors,  the  squaws  and 
the  children.  The  grateful  Indians  repaid  this 
hospitality  by  bringing  in  game  and  fish  freely, 


THE  GALLANTRY  OF  FRANCE    151 

since  they  were  always  welcome  to  partake  of  the 
meal. 

Lescarbot,  rightly  thinking  that  pomp  and  dis- 
play would  have  a  good  effect  upon  the  savages, 
conducted  these  dinners  in  that  lonely  frontier 
post  with  as  much  ceremony  as  though  they  were 
being  given  in  a  French  chateau.  The  Master  of 
the  Feast  for  the  day,  though  perhaps  only  a 
common  sailor,  wore  a  rich  robe  of  velvet  with  a 
heavy  gold  chain  around  the  neck. 

Champlain  organized  festivities,  with  a  good 
deal  of  music.  The  Indians,  though  generally  so 
reticent  with  the  white  men,  contributed  songs  and 
dances.  There  were  friendly  contests  of  skill. 
Owing  to  a  mild  winter,  to  good  food,  and  to  the 
happy  spirit  of  the  colony,  only  four  men  died  in 
six  months,  the  smallest  death-rate  recorded  in 
the  early  settlements  of  America. 

The  spring  of  1607  found  the  settlers  of  Port 
Royal  in  high  spirits.  A  cargo  of  tar  was  nearly 
ready,  which  would  fetch  a  high  price  in  France. 
The  fields  were  planted.  Carpenters  were  build- 
ing new  houses.  The  settlement  rang  with  the 
sounds  of  contented  labor. 

Suddenly  there  appeared  a  vessel  from  St. 
Malo,  bringing  disastrous  news.  The  De  Monts 
charter  had  been  rescinded  owing  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  influence  of  Queen  Mary  de  Medici,  the 
second  wife  of  Henry  IV  of  France.  War  had 
broken  out  between  France  and  Holland,  and 
Dutch  vessels  were  raiding  the  post  on  the  St. 


152       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Lawrence.  Port  Royal  must  be  abandoned,  at 
least  until  the  Dutch  war  was  over. 

Lescarbot  refused  to  go  until  he  had  harvested 
his  crops.  On  August  27,  1607,  the  last  of  the 
white  men  sailed  for  France,  to  the  dismay  and 
grief  of  the  friendly  Indians.  The  most  success- 
ful colony  in  America  was  abandoned  in  the  full 
flush  of  its  pride  by  reason  of  religious  strife  in 
the  mother  country. 

De  Monts  was  too  powerful  a  man  to  be  thrust 
aside  so  rudely.  He  secured  a  grant  to  trade  in 
the  St.  Lawrence  Valley.  In  April,  1608,  he  sent 
out  an  expedition  of  two  ships  under  Pontgrave 
and  Champlain.  After  a  sharp  battle  with  rival 
fur-traders  at  Tadoussac  the  two  explorers  came 
to  the  Narrows  of  Quebec  and  rebuilt  the  aban- 
doned settlement.  Soon  after  landing  a  serious 
mutiny  was  discovered.  The  ringleader  was 
hanged  and  three  other  mutineers  sent  back  to 
France,  but  the  conspiracy  had  an  ugly  look,  for 
there  was  evidence  that  it  had  been  planned  by 
De  Monts'  enemies. 

In  September,  Pontgrave  sailed  for  France  with 
a  rich  cargo  of  furs,  leaving  Champlain  at  Quebec 
with  28  men.  The  winter,  unlike  that  of  the  pre- 
ceding year,  was  terribly  severe,  and  Quebec  is 
one  of  the  coldest  spots  in  eastern  Canada.  The 
food  supply  of  the  Indians  failed  and  they  bor- 
rowed from  the  white  men  until  there  was  little 
left.  The  spring  was  late.  When  Pontgrave  ar- 


THE  GALLANTRY  OF  FRANCE    153 

rived  at  the  end  of  May,  1609,  the  snow  was  still 
on  the  ground  and  only  nine  men  were  left  alive. 

At  this  time  was  formed  the  alliance  with  the 
Indians  which  played  so  vital  a  part  in  the  wars 
between  the  English  and  the  French  in  America, 
and  which  determined  the  future  history  of  the 
continent. 

When  Cartier  first  visited  the  St.  Lawrence,  he 
had  been  hospitably  received  by  the  Indians,  along 
the  valley,  and  at  their  great  town  of  Hochelaga. 
All  these  tribes  were  of  the  Iroquois  Family  (or 
Race),  and  most  of  them  belonged  to  the  Huron 
group.  Later,  the  Hurons  formed  one  of  the  Great 
Confederacy  of  Six  Nations — Mohawks,  Hurons, 
Oneidas,  Onondagas,  Senecas  and  Tuscaroras — 
the  most  powerful  confederacy  in  North  America, 
but,  at  this  time,  they  were  outside  of  and  antago- 
nistic to  the  original  Four-Nation  Confederacy, 
Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Onondagas  and  Senecas. 

When  Champlain  came,  three-quarters  of  a  cen- 
tury later,  the  Hurons  were  gone.  A  wave  of  In- 
dian war  had  swept  over  the  valley.  The  more 
numerous  and  more  barbaric  tribes  of  the  Algon- 
quians  had  taken  their  place.  The  Hurons  were 
driven  west,  to  the  region  south  of  the  Great 
Lakes.  This  conquest  had  only  been  possible  be- 
cause the  Iroquois  of  the  Four  Nations,  the  most 
civilized  and  the  most  warlike  of  the  North  Amer- 
ican Indians  did  not  feel  called  upon  to  help  the 
Hurons. 

In  order  to  maintain  his  position  at  Quebec, 


Champlain  made  an  alliance  with  the  Algonquians 
and  the  Hurons,  who  had  made  terms  with  their 
hereditary  enemies.  By  the  other  Iroquois  Na- 
tions, the  Hurons  were  regarded  as  double-dyed 
traitors. 

When  Pontgrave  next  spring  arrived  with  more 
men,  the  Indians  demanded  that  Champlain  re- 
deem his  promise  to  aid  them  against  their  ene- 
mies, and  proposed  a  raid  into  Iroquois  country, 
promising  Champlain  that  they  would  show  him 
a  route  whereby  that  territory  could  be  reached 
by  boats. 

Two  reasons  caused  t  Champlain  to  agree  to 
this  unwise  meddling  in  tribal  warfare.  The  first 
was  the  absolute  necessity  that  the  Indians  should 
trust  the  white  men — otherwise  they  might  all  be 
massacred  in  a  night.  The  second  was  his  desire 
for  exploration  and  for  the  extension  of  the  fur 
trade  routes.  As  yet,  nothing  was  known  of  the 
region  away  from  the  St.  Lawrence  Valley. 

In  June  1609,  Algonquian  and  Huron  braves 
to  the  number  of  400  gathered  for  the  war-path 
and  summoned  Champlain  to  join  them.  The  ex- 
plorer, with  11  Frenchmen  in  full  plate  armor,  re- 
sponded to  the  call. 

The  Indians,  in  their  canoes,  led  the  party 
across  the  Lake  of  St.  Peter  to  the  Richelieu  River. 
At  a  camping  site,  two  days'  journey  upstream, 
quarrels  broke  out  between  the  Hurons  and  the 
Algonquians  and  three-quarters  of  the  braves 
abandoned  the  projected  raid. 


THE  GALLANTRY  OF  FRANCE    155 

Some  distance  further  up  the  river,  rapids  were 
encountered  beyond  which  the  French  boat  could 
not  go.  Even  so,  Champlain  would  not  desert  his 
allies,  but  continued  on  with  two  of  his  men  and 
60  Indians  to  invade  the  country  of  the  warlike 
Iroquois. 

The  advance  was  made  slowly  and  only  by  night. 
Beyond  Crown  Point,  the  progress  became  even 
more  stealthy.  Late  in  the  evening  of  July  29, 
moving  forward  before  the  moon  rose,  the  attack- 
ing party  came  near  to  that  narrow  strip  of  land 
between  Lake  Champlain  and  Lake  George  which 
is  famous  in  American  History  under  its  Iroquois 
name  of  Ticonderoga. 

On  the  water  were  a  number  of  heavy  elm  bark 
canoes,  easily  to  be  recognized  as  those  of  the 
Iroquois.  The  defenders  landed  hastily  and  began 
throwing  up  a  barricade.  The  invaders  waited  in 
their  canoes  until  the  first  streaks  of  dawn  ap- 
peared, and  landed  also. 

It  was  a  daring  raid,  and  when  the  Iroquois 
saw  the  small  numbers  of  the  Algonquians,  they 
were  amazed.  The  invaders  were  only  60  in 
number  and  were  facing  more  than  200  braves, 
warriors  of  the  finest  fighting  tribe  in  the  whole 
Iroquois  League,  for  these  were  Mohawks. 

The  shrill  war-yell  rose,  and,  scorning  the  bar- 
ricade they  had  been  at  such  pains  to  build,  the 
Iroquois  rushed  forward. 

The   Algonquians   answered  with   their   even 


higher-pitched  war-cry,  and  called  upon  Cham- 
plain  and  his  men. 

The  loose  ranks  of  the  invaders  opened.  At 
three  different  points,  the  three  Frenchmen 
stepped  forward. 

At  these  apparitions  of  pale-faced  men  in  shin- 
ing flame — for  their  polished  armor  glinted 
brightly  under  the  first  rays  of  the  rising  sun — 
the  Mohawks  stopped.  Only  for  a  moment,  how- 
ever, and  then  the  gallant  redskins  raised  their 
bows  to  shoot. 

It  was  too  late ! 

Before  arrow  could  leave  bow,  Champlain  had 
leveled  his  arquebuss  and  fired.  He  had  loaded  it 
with  four  balls,  and  one  chief  and  one  warrior  fell. 
The  sound  had  not  died  away  before  the  other  two 
pale-faces  fired.  At  different  points  of  the  line, 
two  other  Indians  fell. 

What  sorcery  of  slaughter  was  this  ? 

What  terrible  wizards  were  these  who  could 
hurl  from  sticks  a  fiery  death  which  flew  faster 
and  further  than  any  arrow? 

The  Mohawks,  despite  their  valor,  dared  not 
advance,  dared  not  await  another  volley.  They 
fled  in  panic,  fled  so  fast,  indeed,  that  the  Algon- 
quians,  pursuing  with  whoops  of  triumph,  were 
able  to  make  but  few  prisoners. 

It  was  a  great  victory  for  the  invaders  and  it 
increased  the  prestige  of  Champlain  among  the 
Indians  a  thousandfold.  Yet  this  victorious  skir- 
mish was  to  prove  costly  to  France. 


THE  GALLANTRY  OF  FRANCE    157 

That  same  day,  July  30,  1609,  a  little  Dutch 
ship  named  the  Half-Moon  was  riding  in  Penob- 
ecot  Bay.  Had  the  vision  of  Henry  Hudson,  her 
captain,  been  able  to  pierce  the  forests  that  lay 
between  his  vessel  and  Ticonderoga,  he  would 
have  had  the  clew  to  that  confused  and  savage 
warfare  which  for  years  to  come  was  to  make  a 
bloody  battlefield  of  those  forests. 

Because  of  those  few  shots  from  an  arquebuss, 
fired  by  a  Frenchman  against  a  party  of  Mohawks, 
on  behalf  of  his  Algonquian  allies,  the  Dutch  and 
the  English  gained  the  support  of  the  most  pow- 
erful and  warlike  ally  that  the  whole  North  Ameri- 
can continent  could  afford.  Later  history  was  to 
reveal  the  Iroquois  and  the  Algonquians  as  double- 
edged  weapons  ruthlessly  wielded  by  the  French 
and  English  in  their  great  contest  for  the  mastery 
of  America.  Champlain's  courage  was  to  lose 
France  the  fairest  of  her  possessions. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  COMING  OF  THE  JESUITS 

Religious  strife  was  a  main  cause  in  the  peo- 
pling of  America.  Colonized  when  Europe  was 
aflame  with  bigotry,  when  one  side  burned  "  her- 
etics "  and  the  other  butchered  " papists,"  it  was 
inevitable  that  America's  early  history  should  be 
singed  with  that  flame. 

The  Spaniards  came  as  Catholic  crusaders,  the 
Coligny  colonies  were  refuges  for  hunted  Hugue- 
nots, Virginia  would  accept  none  who  were  not  of 
the  English  Church,  Maryland  was  a  home  for 
disfranchised  Catholics,  and  the  French  colonists 
in  Acadia  were  compelled  to  see  that  the  Indians 
were  Catholicized,  even  though  they  were  Protes- 
tants themselves. 

Soon  the  Mayflower  would  come,  bringing  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  content  with  no  worship  but 
their  own.  The  Puritans  would  follow,  to  estab- 
lish the  most  intolerant  church  that  ever  existed  on 
American  soil.  Moravians,  Lutherans,  Quakers 
and  other  bodies  were  to  plant  colonies  of  their 
own  persuasion,  until  every  mile  of  the  American 
coast-line  was  tagged  with  a  theological  name. 

American  history  differs  from  that  of  every 
other  country  in  the  world.  It  is  not  the  history 

168 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  JESUITS       159 

of  the  growth  of  a  single  people,  nor  yet  is  it  a 
tale  of  conquest.  It  is  the  history  of  a  virgin 
land,  peopled  by  successive  communities  of  a  dif- 
fering religious  character.  Each  gave  some  of 
its  good  to  the  whole.  Each  was  in  earnest,  each 
had  faith.  Men  do  not  fight  for  what  they  do  not 
prize. 

Enthusiasts  are  always  filled  with  the  mission- 
ary spirit.  The  story  of  America  is  full  of  the  most 
splendid  stories  of  heroism  and  martyrdom; 
scores  of  unmarked  graves  in  the  primeval  for- 
ests bear  silent  witness  to  the  courage  of  Chris- 
tian teachers,  Catholics  and  Protestants  alike. 

With  the  revocation  of  de  Monts'  charter  be- 
cause he  was  a  Protestant,  one  of  the  most  aggres- 
sive of  these  missionary  orders — that  of  the  Jes- 
uits— found  its  opportunity  in  America.  Queen 
Mary  de  Medici,  of  France,  was  a  devotee  and  a 
strong  supporter  of  the  Jesuits,  whose  missionary 
efforts  covered  the  then  known  world.  Their  in- 
fluence had  been  potent  in  the  attack  upon  De 
Monts. 

Henry  IV  had  allowed  a  trading  privilege  on 
the  St.  Lawrence  to  de  Monts,  despite  his  Protes- 
tantism, because  he  was  associated  with  Cham- 
plain,  a  Roman  Catholic.  This  was  a  fair  type 
of  the  King 's  policy  of  keeping  a  balance  between 
the  two  parties.  Quebec,  for  the  time  being,  was 
let  alone. 

The  settlement  of  Acadia  was  another  matter. 
Poutrincourt  held  to  his  grant  of  Port  Royal,  but, 


as  the  revoking  of  de  Monts'  charter  made  this 
grant  invalid,  it  was  necessary  to  secure  a  royal 
consent  to  the  holding  of  his  grant.  Thus  Pou- 
trincourt  came  to  hold  Port  Royal  directly  under 
the  Crown,  though,  as  he  learned  later,  he  owed 
this  favor  to  three  noblewomen  who  were  cham- 
pioning the  Jesuit  cause. 

The  abandonment  of  Port  Eoyal  and  the  law- 
suits in  connection  with  his  grant  brought  Pou- 
trincourt  to  poverty.  He  secured  as  partner  a 
man  of  great  wealth,  Thomas  Robin,  who,  like 
Poutrincourt,  was  a  moderate  Catholic  belonging 
to  what  was  known  as  the  National  Party,  pa- 
triotic and  tolerant,  but  suspicious  of  Spain  and 
the  Jesuits. 

When  Father  Cotton,  the  Jesuit  confessor  of 
Henry  IV,  persuaded  the  King  to  order  that  Jes- 
uit missionaries  should  be  sent  to  Acadia,  the  news 
was  most  unwelcome  to  Poutrincourt  and  Robin. 
When  they  learned  that  Father  Biard  had  been 
named  as  the  first  of  these,  they  were  even  more 
distressed. 

Indeed,  so  resentful  were  they,  that,  defying  all 
prudence,  Poutrincourt  sailed  in  March,  1610,  for 
Dieppe  instead  of  from  Bordeaux  as  arranged, 
and  left  the  Jesuit  Father  waiting  on  the  shore. 
He  took  with  him  a  secular  priest,  Father  La 
Fleche. 

Immediately  upon  his  arrival  at  Port  Royal,  the 
priest  undertook  baptisms  at  a  great  rate,  since 
Poutrincourt  wished  to  prove  to  the  King  that 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  JESUITS        161 

the  Christianization  of  the  Indians  could  be  done 
without  the  help  of  the  Jesuits. 

Father  La  Fleche  did  not  arrive  in  Acadia  until 
May,  but  within  a  month,  Chief  Memberton — said 
to  be  one  hundred  and  ten  years  old — and  all  his 
family,  together  with  twenty  of  the  leading  war- 
riors, were  baptized.  Baptisms  became  popular. 
Poutrincourt  was  shrewd  enough  to  give  a  free 
feast  on  every  christening  day.  The  Micmacs 
flocked  in.  Their  admiration  and  affection  for 
the  French  were  so  great  that  they  became  ready 
converts.  Indeed,  it  was  with  difficulty  that  the 
white  men  held  back  the  new-made  Christians 
from  going  on  the  war-path  against  the  neighbor- 
ing tribes  and  tomahawking  all  those  who  did  not 
come  to  be  baptized  forthwith. 

In  the  middle  of  July,  Poutrincourt  sent  his  son 
— known  to  history  by  the  family  name  of  Bien- 
court,  to  France  with  the  precious  book  wherein 
were  recorded  the  baptisms  of  several  hundred 
Indians.  But,  on  his  way  across,  Biencourt  heard 
grievous  news  from  a  Breton  fisherman.  Henry 
IV  had  been  assassinated  by  Ravillac  while  driv- 
ing along  the  streets  of  Paris. 

This  death,  which  left  Louis  XIII  a  boy-king 
and  placed  France  under  the  regency  of  Queen 
Marie  de  Medici,  boded  evil  for  the  Protestants. 
De  Monts'  trading  privilege  was  not  renewed. 
Poutrincourt  had  put  himself  in  a  difficult  position 
by  his  contemptuous  rejection  of  a  Jesuit  Father. 
Such  was  an  awkward  situation  for  young  Bien- 


162       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

court  to  face,  when  he  appeared  at  court.  His 
case  was  far  too  weak  for  him  to  dare  to  oppose 
the  potent  Religious  Order  that  his  father  had 
offended. 

At  this  time,  three  women  were  all-powerful  at 
court.  These  were  Marie  de  Medici,  Regent  and 
Queen-Mother;  Henriette  d'Entraigues,  Marquise 
de  Verneuil,  whose  ugly  story  needs  not  to  be  told ; 
and  the  stainless  and  virtuous  Antoinette  de  la 
Pons,  Marquise  de  Guercheville,  whom  Henry  IV 
had  vainly  wooed.  All  three  were  devoted  to  the 
Jesuits. 

Biencourt,  as  resolutely  as  he  dared,  urged  his 
father's  faithfulness  to  the  Church  and  yet  his 
dislike  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers.  A  strong  hint  was 
given  to  the  young  man  that  any  more  such  talk 
might  mean  a  cancellation  of  his  father's  grant, 
and,  since  he  had  found  out  that  these  three  women 
had  been  the  cause  of  De  Monts'  downfall,  Bien- 
court kept  quiet.  Father  Biard  was  instructed  to 
proceed  to  Dieppe  with  an  associate,  Father 
Masse,  and  Biencourt  was  curtly  ordered  to  see 
that  they  were  duly  taken  on  board. 

There  was  more  trouble  ahead.  Poutrincourt 
and  Robin,  learning  how  heavy  were  the  costs  of 
founding  a  new  state,  had  arranged  with  two 
Protestant  merchants  in  Dieppe  to  take  a  share 
in  the  venture,  in  return  for  a  ship-load  of  sup- 
plies. TEese  were  to  be  placed  on  Biencourt 's 
vessel. 

When  Fathers   Biard  and  Masse   arrived  in 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  JESUITS       163 

Dieppe,  however,  the  Protestant  merchants  defied 
the  Queen-Mother  and  flatly  refused  to  allow  the 
Jesuits  to  board. 

The  Marquise  de  Guercheville  threw  herself 
into  the  breach  with  zeal  and  devotion.  A  sub- 
scription was  begun,  and,  in  a  few  hours,  a  large 
sum  was  raised  among  the  courtiers,  not  one  of 
whom  dared  to  refuse  to  sign.  Within  a  week, 
the  amount  received  exceeded  all  expectations. 

The  money  was  given  to  the  Provincial  of  the 
Jesuits,  who  directed  Father  Biard  to  buy  out  the 
entire  interest  of  the  two  Protestant  merchants  of 
Dieppe,  and  to  lend  some  money  to  Poutrincourt. 
Thus  the  Jesuits  not  only  became  commercial  part- 
ners in  the  enterprise,  but  also  creditors  of  the 
owner  of  the  grant.  This  transaction  was  to  have 
startling  results. 

The  expedition,  richly  laden  with  the  seeds  of 
distrust,  sailed  from  Dieppe  on  January  26,  1611. 
The  voyage  was  long  and  it  was  not  until  May  22 
that  a  landing  at  Port  Eoyal  was  made. 

The  winter  had  been  hard  and  the  ship  had 
been  expected  two  months  earlier.  Famine  had 
taken  more  than  half  of  the  men.  The  remaining 
colonists  eagerly  fell  upon  the  supplies  brought 
by  Biencourt,  but  a  large  share  of  the  provisions 
had  been  consumed  during  the  long  sea-voyage. 

Gloomy  enough  was  the  landing,  but  it  was  ren- 
dered worse  by  Poutrincourt 's  open  hostility  to 
Fathers  Biard  and  Masse.  A  case  of  interference 
with  justice  brought  this  enmity  to  a  crisis.  Pont- 


164       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

grave's  son  had  excited  the  animosity  of  the  In- 
dians by  a  piece  of  personal  misconduct,  and  was 
hiding  in  the  woods  from  Poutrincourt 's  anger. 
Father  Biard  went  to  seek  him,  pardoned  him,  and 
brought  him  back  to  the  fort. 

The  governor  stormed  at  this  invasion  of  his 
authority.  Father  Biard  suavely  pointed  out  that 
the  Jesuits  were  now  his  partners  and  that,  if  it 
had  not  been  for  the  intervention  of  the  Marquise 
de  Guercheville,  Port  Royal  would  not  have  re- 
ceived any  supplies  at  all.  Moreover,  he  pointed 
out  that  the  pardon  of  an  erring  son  was  a  spirit- 
ual affair. 

Poutrincourt  retorted  that  the  Protestant  mer- 
chants were  sending  the  supplies,  and  that  they 
would  have  come  sooner  if  the  Jesuits  had  not 
interfered.  He  added  that  he  preferred  Protes- 
tant aid  to  Jesuit  aid.  As  the  Catholics  were  in 
control  at  the  court  of  France,  this  was  an  unwise 
remark  and  he  was  to  pay  dearly  for  it. 

Thoroughly  enraged  at  the  manner  in  which  his 
grant  was  passing  out  of  his  hands,  Poutrincourt 
sailed  for  France  to  fight  his  own  cause.  Bien- 
court  was  left  in  charge,  though  Father  Biard  was 
the  real  ruler. 

The  young  sailor  was  as  eager  to  escape  from 
the  new  conditions  as  his  father  had  been.  More- 
over, he  had  been  appointed  Vice-Admiral  of  New 
France  as  a  means  of  strengthening  his  attach- 
ment to  the  Crown.  He  set  out  to  harry  the  trad- 
ing vessels  of  independent  St.  Malo  and  Rochelle 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  JESUITS        165 

merchants,  with  the  intention  of  seizing  their  sup- 
plies as  penalty. 

Soon  after  sailing,  he  came  into  conflict  with 
young  Pontgrave,  who  had  built  a  few  huts  on  the 
shore  and  was  establishing  a  trading  post  on  his 
own  account.  Biencourt  regarded  this  as  a  usur- 
pation of  his  father's  privileges  and  made  Pont- 
grave and  his  men  prisoners,  in  spite  of  Father 
Biard's  opposition. 

The  summer  and  autumn  was  spent  by  Bien- 
court in  the  effort  to  make  the  fur-traders  accept 
his  authority — which  most  of  them  refused  to  do — 
and  in  the  hunt  for  supplies.  Yet,  when  the  ship 
returned  to  Port  Royal  in  the  fall,  there  were  few 
stores  in  her  hold.  The  scant  amount  of  food 
that  had  been  collected  had  been  consumed  on  the 
voyage. 

The  garrison  at  Port  Eoyal  had  not  prospered. 
Father  Masse  had  gone  out  to  convert  the  Indians 
and  was  rescued,  in  a  half-starved  condition,  after 
a  summer  in  which  he  had  tried  to  live  in  Indian 
fashion.  Chief  Memberton  was  dying  of  old  age, 
and,  with  his  death,  a  strong  link  of  Indian  friend- 
ship was  lost. 

The  winter  proved  wet  and  dreary.  Biencourt 
and  the  Jesuit  Fathers  lived  in  a  state  of  mutual 
distrust.  Fortunately  for  the  colony,  Poutrin- 
court  had  ventured  to  send  a  supply  ship  across 
the  Atlantic  in  the  depth  of  winter.  She  arrived 
on  January  23,  1612. 

The  news  that  the  vessel  brought  was  less  w/J- 


166       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

come  to  Biencourt  than  the  food.  The  first  person 
to  step  ashore  from  the  boat  was  Gilbert  du  Thet, 
a  Jesuit  lay-brother.  He  informed  the  young 
sailor  that  Mme.  de  Guercheville  had  bought  from 
de  Monts  all  his  claims  to  Acadia.  De  Monts  had 
protested,  but  was  silenced  by  the  veiled  threat 
that,  if  he  proved  stubborn,  his  Protestantism 
might  come  to  be  regarded  as  treason. 

Du  Thet's  position  was  a  strong  one.  He 
showed  Biencourt  that  the  Jesuit  colonization  was 
on  a  loftier  plane  than  any  that  had  preceded  it. 
All  the  French  founders  in  Acadia — even  Poutrin- 
court,  at  the  last — had  abandoned  colonizing  and 
had  set  themselves  merely  to  establish  fur-trading 
posts.  The  Jesuit  Father  proposed  to  use  Port 
Royal  as  the  base  of  a  mission  which  should  bring 
all  the  Indian  tribes  of  America  into  the  fold  of 
the  Catholic  Church,  and  then  civilize  them  grad- 
ually. The  amazing  success  of  the  Jesuit  mis- 
sions in  Paraguay,  wherein  the  warlike  Guaranyis 
had  become  largely  civilized  in  the  course  of  thirty 
years,  proved  that  such  a  plan  was  possible. 

But  du  Thet  was  not  the  only  agent  on  this 
vessel,  there  was  also  an  agent  sent  by  Poutrin- 
court.  Du  Thet  explained  that  the  grant  held  by 
Poutrincourt  restricted  him  to  a  small  piece  of  ter- 
ritory contained  in  de  Monts'  grant;  the  baron's 
agent  claimed  a  huge  barony. 

Technically,  Poutrincourt  was  in  the  wrong. 
He  had  bought  a  small  site  from  de  Monts  for 
the  purposes  of  colonization.  The  failure  of  this 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  JESUITS        167 

plan  had  turned  him  into  a  fur  trader.  A  piece 
of  land  large  enough  for  the  building  of  a  town 
was  a  very  different  matter  from  the  enormous 
territory  required  for  a  fur-hunting  domain. 

Biencourt  sided  with  his  father's  agent.  The 
quarreling  grew  sharp.  The  three  Jesuits,  secure 
in  the  royal  support,  withdrew  to  the  vessel  and 
prepared  to  sail  for  France.  Poutrincourt  's  grant 
would  not  have  endured  a  half  an  hour  after  their 
arrival  at  court,  and  Biencourt  knew  it.  He 
ordered  their  return  to  land  and  threatened  to  use 
force  if  they  did  not  come. 

The  Jesuits  excommunicated  him.  For  three 
months  a  religious  interdict  was  placed  on  the 
settlement.  Then  either  Biencourt  or  Father 
Biard  yielded  (the  original  documents  of  both 
sides  are  flatly  contradictory  on  this  point), 
friendly  relations  were  resumed,  and,  in  the  sum- 
mer, Brother  du  Thet  sailed  for  France.  He 
carried  letters  from  Father  Biard  praising  Bien- 
court, but  he  also  bore  verbal  messages  of  a  very 
different  character. 

As  might  be  expected,  Poutrincourt  had  only 
made  his  troubles  worse.  In  order  to  send  sup- 
plies, he  borrowed  money  from  the  Jesuits  and 
from  the  Marquise  de  Guercheville.  The  notes 
fell  due  and  he  had  no  money  with  which  to  pay 
them.  He  had  few  friends  at  court  and  he  had 
made  an  enemy  of  the  Jesuit  Order.  He  was 
thrown  into  prison.  There  he  fell  ill,  and  though 


168       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

he  was  soon  released,  his  opportunities  to  help  the 
Acadian  colonists  were  at  an  end. 

Poutrincourt  needed  not  to  disturb  himself. 
Jesuit  zeal  was  running  high,  and  Jesuit  money 
was  embarked  on  the  enterprise.  Under  the 
influence  of  the  Queen-Mother,  Louis  XIII  granted 
to  the  Marquise  de  Guercheville  all  the  territory 
of  North  America,  from  Florida  to  the  St.  Law- 
rence River,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  square 
miles  around  Port  Royal,  which  had  been  granted 
to  Poutrincourt  by  Henry  IV. 

The  devotee  marquise,  therefore,  was  awarded 
by  the  Crown  of  France  not  only  the  unoccupied 
land  in  America,  but  also  the  land  held  by  the 
English  in  Virginia  as  well  as  the  trading  posts  of 
the  Dutch  on  the  Hudson  River.  This  was  a  steal, 
pure  and  simple. 

Once  more  a  subscription  was  set  on  foot,  this 
time  for  the  occupation  of  the  whole  North  Amer- 
ican coast.  As  it  was  a  holy  cause  and  Mme.  de 
Guercheville 's  name  was  honored  for  rectitude 
and  charity,  the  money  came  in  readily.  The 
Jonas  was  amply,  even  luxuriously  equipped  and 
sent  to  Acadia  under  command  of  Captain  La 
Saussaye,  who  was  to  act  as  the  lieutenant  of  the 
marquise. 

On  May  16,  1613,  La  Saussaye  touched  at  La 
Heve,  where  he  displayed  the  banner  of  Mme.  de 
Guercheville,  and  where  Father  La  Quentin — the 
third  Jesuit  Father  to  come  to  the  colony — said 
Mass.  Brother  du  Thet  duly  recorded  this  official 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  JESUITS       169 

act  of  taking  possession  of  all  North  America  for 
France.  Thence  the  Jonas  passed  onwards  to 
Port  Royal. 

As  seemed  to  be  the  invariable  outcome  of  a 
colonial  winter,  the  colonists  were  in  utter  dis- 
tress. Biencourt  and  the  few  settlers  who  sur- 
vived were  scattered  far  and  wide,  gathering 
shell-fish,  catching  fish  or  digging  ground-nuts. 
Fathers  Biard  and  Masse,  a  boy  acolyte  and  two 
men  were  all  who  were  found  at  the  settlement. 

Taking  the  two  Jesuits  and  the  boy  on  board, 
La  Saussaye  promptly  set  sail,  by  no  means  dis- 
pleased at  having  escaped  an  awkward  meeting 
with  Biencourt.  The  Port  Royal  site  was  excluded 
from  the  grant  given  to  the  marquise  and  there 
was  no  reason  for  him  to  stay  there. 

After  a  few  hours'  sailing  he  entered  what  is 
now  known  as  Frenchman's  Bay,  on  the  coast  of 
Maine.  There,  on  Mt.  Desert  Island,  near  the 
present  site  of  Bar  Harbor,  Maine,  the  first  set- 
tlement was  made  under  the  banner  of  Mme.  de 
Guercheville.  Later,  on  the  urging  of  Father 
Biard,  this  settlement  was  moved  to  Soames 
Sound,  on  the  same  island.  Thus  the  French  flag 
flew  on  what  was  afterwards  to  be  the  State  of 
Maine. 

England  was  not  likely  to  stay  idle  when  so 
impudent  a  claim  as  this  was  made.  Captain 
Argall,  the  young  English  sailor  who  had  abducted 
Pocahontas  and  taken  her  to  Jamestown,  had  been 
sent  north  to  fish  for  cod  off  the  coasts  of  Maine 


170       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

and  to  secure  from  the  coast  Indians  any  supplies 
he  could,  whether  by  fair  means  or  foul.  The 
vessel  ran  into  a  heavy  fog,  and,  when  the  weather 
cleared,  Argall  found  himself  off  the  islands  at 
the  mouth  of  Penobscot  Bay,  fifty  miles  southwest 
off  Mt.  Desert  Island. 

Some  Indians  came  off,  in  canoes,  to  trade.  "By 
their  bows  and  scrapes,"  Argall  was  convinced 
that  these  Indians  must  have  been  in  contact  with 
some  French  nearby.  The  English  captain  knew 
a  little  of  the  Indian  tongue  and  managed  to  dis- 
cover the  whereabouts  of  the  new  colony,  which 
was  clearly  within  the  territory  of  "North  Vir- 
ginia. ' ' 

Counting  largely  on  the  element  of  surprise  and 
confident  in  the  fighting  qualities  of  his  crew, 
Argall  sailed  into  Soames  Sound.  For  a  few  min- 
utes, the  French  gazed  at  the  incoming  vessel  with 
delight,  believing  her  to  be  one  of  their  own.  Then 
Argall  broke  out  the  English  flag  and  opened  with 
a  broadside.  A  round  shot  ploughed  through  the 
settlers  gathered  on  the  beach. 

In  a  second  all  was  confusion.  Part  of  the  crew 
of  the  French  ship  was  ashore,  laying  the  first 
timbers  for  the  fort.  The  French  pilot  and  a  boat- 
load of  sailors  started  for  their  ship,  but  saw  at 
once  that  there  would  be  no  time  to  run  her  out 
of  the  harbor  without  being  sunk  by  the  English 
guns.  They  fled  for  the  narrow  channels  between 
the  islands  and  the  shore  and  so  escaped.  La 
Saussaye  fled  into  the  woods. 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  JESUITS       171 

La  Motte,  the  lieutenant,  with  Brother  du  Thet 
and  a  handful  of  the  boldest  men,  took  a  small 
boat  and  hurried  on  board  the  ship  to  fight  or  to 
escape.  There  was  no  time  to  cut  the  cables  or 
hoist  sail.  Argall  bore  down  on  them  swiftly. 
A  second  broadside  roared  out  and  smashed  into 
the  ship. 

Since  the  gunners  had  fled  with  the  pilot,  there 
was  no  one  to  man  the  French  guns.  Du  Thet, 
however,  determined  that  at  least  there  should  be 
some  reply,  set  match  to  one  of  the  cannons  and 
fired,  without  even  stopping  to  aim. 

The  single  report  was  answered  from  Argall 's 
vessel  with  the  rattle  of  a  volley  of  musketry,  and 
du  Thet  fell  on  the  deck,  mortally  wounded.  The 
English  raked  the  French  craft  fore  and  aft,  but 
never  a  second  shot  came  in  answer. 

Then  Argall 's  men  boarded.  Few  of  the 
Frenchmen  were  left  alive,  but  La  Motte,  sword 
in  hand,  fought  gallantly  to  the  last,  and  was 
granted  an  honorable  surrender. 

The  English  commander  landed  without  oppo- 
sition from  the  handful  of  men  left  on  the  shore. 
He  raided  the  tents  and  the  half -built  huts.  He 
seized  La  Saussaye's  trunks,  picked  the  locks,  and, 
with  inexcusable  trickery,  extracted  from  the  chest 
the  royal  deeds  and  La  Saussaye's  commission. 
These  he  stuffed  in  his  pockets  and  then  closed 
the  trunks  as  though  they  had  not  been  pilfered. 

The  following  morning,  La  Saussaye,  seeing 
both  his  ship  and  his  settlement  in  English  hands, 


172        THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

emerged  from  his  hiding-place  and  surrendered. 
Argall  received  him  courteously,  only  demanding 
to  be  shown  the  royal  commission  under  which 
La  Saussaye  was  operating.  The  French  com- 
mander searched  his  trunks  in  vain. 

Thereupon  Argall  broke  into  a  storm  of  rage, 
declared  La  Saussaye  a  liar  and  threatened  to 
hang  the  French  leader  and  all  his  men  as  pirates. 
He  gave  his  own  sailors  the  right  to  help  them- 
selves to  anything  they  wished.  Even  clothing 
was  taken,  leaving  the  colonists  half  naked. 

La  Saussaye,  Father  Masse  and  thirteen  men 
were  put  in  an  open  boat,  with  scant  provisions, 
and  set  adrift  in  the  open  sea.  Later,  after  the 
English  had  gone,  the  pilot  and  the  boat's  crew 
crept  out  from  among  the  islands  and  joined  La 
Saussaye.  On  the  verge  of  starvation,  the  two 
crews  made  their  way  north  to  Newfoundland 
where  they  met  French  trading  vessels  which  took 
them  home  in  safety. 

Father  Biard,  with  thirteen  men,  accompanied 
Argall  back  to  Jamestown.  Dale,  the  stern  High 
Marshal,  was  in  command  of  Virginia  at  the  time. 
The  news  of  the  French  invasion  stirred  his  mili- 
tary severity.  He  was  about  to  give  order  that 
every  one  of  the  prisoners — including  the  eccle- 
siastics— should  be  hanged  as  pirates,  when  Ar- 
gall, realizing  that  he  was  arousing  a  storm  that 
threatened  to  be  greater  than  he  could  weather, 
showed  Dale  the  stolen  papers. 

The  High  Marshal  was  too  good  a  soldier  not 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  JESUITS       173 

to  be  just  as  well  as  stern.  The  royal  commis- 
sion proved  that  the  French  had  come  with  proper 
authority.  He  rebuked  Argall,  apologized  to  La 
Saussaye,  and  saw  to  it  that  the  French  prisoners 
of  war  should  receive  honorable  treatment. 

Dale  felt  himself  to  be  not  only  the  High  Mar- 
shal of  Virginia,  but  also  the  sole  official  repre- 
sentative of  England  in  America.  When  he 
learned  from  Father  Biard  that  Port  Eoyal  had 
fallen  on  evil  days,  it  seemed  to  him  the  right 
movement  to  evict  the  French  from  a  holding 
which  was  within  the  territory  granted  by  James  I 
to  the  Plymouth  Company. 

Argall  was  sent  with  a  small  war  fleet  of  three 
vessels  to  put  an  end  to  the  French  colonies.  He 
went  first  to  Mt.  Desert,  razed  what  little  building 
had  been  begun,  cut  down  the  Cross  erected  by 
the  French  and  put  one  of  his  own  in  its  place. 
A  boat  was  sent  to  La  Heve  where  the  carved 
escutcheon  of  the  Marquise  de  Guercheville  was 
cut  down  and  burned.  Thence  Argall  sailed  to 
the  Island  of  St.  Croix,  seized  a  quantity  of  salt 
that  had  been  prepared  and  set  fire  to  the  tumble- 
down colony  of  De  Monts. 

This  left  Port  Royal  as  the  only  remaining 
French  settlement  in  Acadia.  Not  a  soul  was  in 
the  place  when  Argall  sailed  in.  Biencourt  and 
his  soldiers  were  away  on  a  visit  to  an  Indian 
chief.  The  laborers  were  in  the  fields,  some  dis- 
tance up  the  inlet.  The  storehouses  were  well 
filled,  for  a  supply  ship  from  France  had  arrived 


174       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

but  a  short  time  before.  Cattle,  horses  and  pigs 
were  found  in  the  enclosures. 

Rejoicing  at  this  chance  of  easy  conquest,  the 
English  butchered  or  carried  off  all  the  animals, 
emptied  the  storehouses,  seized  all  the  arms  and 
ammunition,  pried  off  every  piece  of  ironwork — 
even  to  the  locks  of  the  doors — and  then  set  fire 
to  what  remained.  This  done,  an  armed  party 
was  sent  up  the  inlet  to  take  the  laborers  pris- 
oners. 

They  had  hardly  embarked  their  captives  when 
Biencourt  appeared  with  his  men,  only  to  find 
Port  Royal  a  smoking  ruin.  The  French  com- 
mander asked  for  a  parley.  The  conference  was 
a  stormy  one.  Argall  offered  to  allow  Biencourt 
to  hold  the  place  on  condition  that  he  should  yield 
allegiance  to  the  King  of  England,  an  offer  that 
was  scornfully  refused.  Biencourt  demanded  the 
person  of  Father  Biard — who  was  on  Argall 's 
ship — admitting  frankly  that  he  desired  to  hang 
him.  This  could  not  be,  for  Argall  was  respon- 
sible to  Dale  for  his  prisoner. 

The  English  commander  was  eager  to  force  a 
fight,  for  he  had  superior  numbers  on  his  side. 
Father  Biard  warned  him  that  Biencourt  had 
numerous  Indian  allies,  "who,  at  this  very  mo- 
ment, may  be  hidden  in  the  forests,  ready  to 
strike."  Biencourt  would  not  surrender,  and 
Argall  did  not  dare  to  use  force.  The  English, 
therefore,  sailed  away,  having  left  the  French  in 
Acadia  without  any  houses  to  live  in,  without  any 


THE    SEA    OF   VERRAZANO 

Verrazano  is  supposed  to  have  crossed  the  Chesapeake  Peninsula  and  saw  beyond 
the  wide  waters  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  He  indicated  this  narrow  peninsula  and  the 
wide  Western  Sea  on  his  map  and  it  was  copied  on  all  maps  thereafter.  It  was  an 
opening  into  this  sea  that  the  Jamestown  colonists  were  told  to  find  and  that  lured 
Hudson  ever  north  seeking  it. 


HUDSON    RECEIVING    HIS    SAILING    ORDERS    FROM    THE    MUSCOVY    COMPANY 

Henry  Hudson's  first  voyages  of  exploration  were  for  the  Muscovy  Company,  an 
English  Company  of  merchant  adventurers,  incorporated  for  the  purpose  of  trade 
with  Russia  and  for  the  searching  out  of  a  passage  north-easterly  around  Europe 
to  China  and  Japan. 


HENRY    HUDSON 


enry  uson  was  an  ngsman,  te  ce  mmeate  resuts  o  s  exporaton 
were  reaped  by  the  Dutch,  but  ultimately  all  of  the  territory  claimed  by  the  Dutch 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  English  chartered  companies. 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  JESUITS        175 

domestic  animals,  without  ammunition  and  with- 
out food. 

Soon  after  leaving  Port  Royal,  a  violent  tem- 
pest separated  the  three  English  ships.  The 
smallest  vessel  was  never  heard  of  again.  Argall, 
who  was  an  excellent  sailor,  managed  to  bring  his 
badly  battered  ship  back  to  Jamestown.  The 
third  vessel,  that  which  had  been  captured  from 
La  Saussaye,  sprang  a  leak.  She  was  rendered 
so  unseaworthy  that  her  captain  did  not  dare  to 
beat  before  the  western  gale.  He  ran  before  the 
wind  and  bore  away  to  the  Azores.  On  this  ship 
were  Fathers  Biard  and  Quentin  and  several 
other  of  the  French  prisoners. 

The  presence  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers  became  an 
added  danger  to  the  English.  If,  on  their  arrival 
at  the  Azores,  Father  Biard  should  proclaim  cap- 
tain and  crew  to  be  a  gang  of  heretics  who  had 
sacked  a  settlement  under  the  protection  of  the 
Jesuits,  the  Portuguese  Catholics  would  be  likely 
to  slit  the  throat  of  every  Englishman  on  board. 

At  first  it  was  seriously  debated  whether  the 
Jesuit  Father  should  be  thrown  overboard  to 
drown,  but  wiser  counsels  prevailed.  Fathers 
Biard  and  Quentin  were  hidden  in  the  hold  on 
their  parole  to  make  no  outcry  while  the  officials  of 
the  Azore  Islands  searched  the  ship.  All  passed 
without  trouble.  On  their  arrival  in  England,  the 
Jesuits  were  treated  with  respect,  and,  after  a 
short  stay,  they  left  for  France. 

Biencourt  was  far  from  considering  himself 


beaten.  True,  Port  Eoyal  was  destroyed,  but 
there  were  still  stout  French  hearts  around  him, 
Indian  allies  about  him,  the  woods  were  full  of 
game  and  the  seas  did  not  lack  for  fish.  He  was 
young  and  strong  and  the  pioneer  life  appealed  to 
him. 

Thus  he  became  the  first  of  the  French  back- 
woodsmen, a  true  coureur  de  bois,  who  could  hunt, 
trap  and  fish  as  well  as  his  redskin  brothers  and 
who  learned  to  speak  their  language  as  well  as 
he  did  his  own.  Several  of  his  men  married  In- 
dian girls.  Instead'  of  their  reclaiming  the  forest, 
the  forest  reclaimed  them. 

Poutrincourt  worried  greatly  over  the  fate  of 
his  son.  In  the  spring  of  1614  he  persuaded  some 
Breton  merchants  to  fit  up  a  small  ship  and  took 
command  himself.  He  found  Port  Royal  in  the 
same  state  as  the  English  had  left  it.  Biencourt 
had  been  wise  enough  to  learn  that  it  was  only  by 
living  with  the  Indians  and  like  the  Indians  that 
his  men  could  survive  the  winters.  Poutrincourt, 
advanced  in  years  and  with  a  very  different  up- 
bringing from  his  son,  saw  no  attraction  in  the 
backwoods  life  and  returned  to  France.  He  died 
the  year  following,  sword  in  hand,  an  officer  in  the 
army  of  the  King. 

Biencourt  labored  on.  No  longer  did  he  look  to 
France  for  help,  he  made  his  own  path.  Many 
half-breed  children  were  born  to  the  French  set- 
tlers, to  become  the  great  hunters  and  fur-traders 
of  the  next  generation.  From  time  to  time  some 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  JESUITS       177 

trading  vessel  came  from  France  bringing  a  few 
men  eager  to  take  up  the  adventures  of  a  pioneer 
life. 

Slowly,  but  surely,  the  French  reestablished 
themselves.  Biencourt  had  inherited  his  father's 
grant  and  held  it  firmly.  He  abandoned  the  old 
site  of  Port  Royal  and  built  a  small  settlement  at 
Annapolis  Royal,  twelve  miles  further  up  the  inlet. 

England  was  not  yet  satisfied,  but  grudged  to 
Biencourt  his  slender  hold  upon  Acadia.  In  1622 
James  I  granted  to  Sir  William  Alexander,  Earl 
of  Stirling,  all  Acadia  and  the  St.  Lawrence  River 
basin.  This  was  to  be  held  by  Alexander  as  a 
fief  of  the  Crown  of  Scotland  (James  I  was  mon- 
arch of  both  kingdoms)  and,  accordingly,  it  was 
rechristened  "Nova  Scotia"  (New  Scotland). 

The  Scotch  lord  came  over  with  a  mere  handful 
of  colonists,  who  settled  at  Port  Royal  and  rebuilt 
the  fortifications.  The  Scotch  were  wise  enough 
not  to  make  an  enemy  of  Biencourt,  who  could 
have  brought  the  Indians  upon  them  any  time  he 
chose.  They  lived  at  peace  with  their  neighbors, 
intermarried  with  the  French  and  with  the  In- 
dians, and,  later,  with  the  halfbreeds.  They 
adopted  the  French  and  Indian  languages,  as  well 
as  the  customs  of  forest  life.  Moreover,  in  the 
French-English  wars  of  a  century  later,  these 
descendants  of  the  Scotch  had  become  so  Galli- 
cized that  they  fought  on  the  French  side. 

Biencourt  died  in  1623,  his  possessions  being  in- 
herited by  his  comrade,  Charles  de  la  Tour.  As 


178        THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

the  title  was  open  to  question,  Claude  de  la  Tour, 
father  of  Charles,  petitioned  Louis  XIII  that  his 
son  might  be  appointed  Commandant  of  Acadia. 
The  petition  was  granted. 

Claude  de  la  Tour  set  sail  for  New  France  in 
April,  1628,  on  one  of  the  four  large  ships  sent 
by  Cardinal  Richelieu  to  support  Champlain  at 
Quebec.  The  fleet  was  commanded  by  Admiral 
Roquemont,  one  of  the  Hundred  Associates,  a 
powerful  trading  company  which  had  become  the 
governing  force  in  the  St.  Lawrence.  But,  un- 
happily for  Champlain,  Roquemont  was  defeated 
by  an  English  'fleet  under  Admiral  Kirk,  and 
Claude  de  la  Tour  was  among  the  prisoners 
brought  to  England. 

De  la  Tour  was  a  Protestant.  As  civil  war  had 
broken  out  again  between  the  Catholics  and  Prot- 
estants and  as  the  Protestant  city  of  Rochelle  was 
in  arms  against  Richelieu,  de  la  Tour  knew  that 
he  would  be  out  of  favor  at  the  French  court.  It 
was  almost  certain  that,  if  he  returned,  his  son's 
appointment  would  be  canceled.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances, at  the  invitation  of  Sir  William  Alex- 
ander, Claude  de  la  Tour  renounced  his  allegiance 
to  the  French  Crown,  agreed  to  accept  the  Scotch- 
man's overlordship  and  was  made  a  baronet  of 
Nova  Scotia,  in  1629,  sailing  thither  shortly  after. 

Charles  de  la  Tour,  though  indignant  at  his 
father's  treason,  accepted  the  inevitable,  the  more 
readily  as  he  had  maintained  the  friendship  with 
the  Scotch  colony  at  Port  Royal.  The  French- 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  JESUITS       179 

English  hostility  lasted  until  1632,  when,  by  the 
Treaty  of  St.  Germain,  Charles  I  of  England  con- 
sented to  restore  to  France  "all  the  places  occu- 
pied in  New  France,  Acadia  and  Canada. ' ' 

The  development  of  French  power  on  the  St. 
Lawrence  under  Champlain,  the  battles  of  Tadous- 
sac  and  Quebec,  the  strife  with  England,  the  story 
of  Hebert  and  all  the  various  aspects  of  the  Treaty 
of  St.  Germain  are  matters  properly  belonging  to 
the  history  of  Canada.  They  will  be  treated  else- 
where. 

In  Acadia,  the  treaty  of  1632  produced  some 
curious  results.  When  the  territory  returned  to 
the  hands  of  France,  Louis  XIII  appointed  the 
Chevalier  Razilly  as  Governor  of  Acadia.  The 
lieutenant-governorship  of  the  eastern  half  (com- 
prising Nova  Scotia  and  Cape  Breton)  was  given 
to  D'Aulnay  Charnisay,  who  made  his  headquar- 
ters at  Port  Royal;  that  of  the  western  half  (from 
St.  Croix  southwesterly  to  Cape  Cod)  was  put 
in  the  hands  of  de  la  Tour,  who  made  his  head- 
quarters at  Fort.  St.  Jean,  on  St.  Croix  Bay.  De 
la  Tour  also  established  a  permanent  post  as  far 
south  as  the  present  site  of  Portland,  Maine, 
which  was  known  as  Fort  Loyal. 

Razilly  withdrew  from  the  Governorship  and 
D'Aulnay  claimed  the  supreme  power,  on  the 
ground  that  Port  Royal  was  the  capital  of  the 
colony.  The  de  la  Tours,  father  and  son,  resisted 
him  stoutly.  Nine  years  of  bitter  feud  ensued, 
the  fur-hunters  of  both  parties  maintaining  a 


savage  warfare  on  each  other.  To  strengthen  his 
position,  de  la  Tour  pushed  his  outposts  further 
and  further  south. 

D'Aulnay  adopted  other  tactics.  He  strength- 
ened his  position  at  the  French  court.  There  was 
little  difficulty,  for  the  de  la  Tours  were  in  bad 
odor  because  of  their  treachery  to  France  in  the 
acceptance  of  English  titles  and  submission  to 
English  authority.  De  la  Tour's  commission  was 
annulled  and  he  was  bidden  report  himself  in 
France  to  answer  for  his  treachery  and  for  his 
warfare  on  French  subjects  under  D  'Aulnay. 

The  sturdy  Protestant  fur-trader  defied  Louis 
XIII  and  France.  He  refused  to  obey  the  order 
of  the  Catholic  king,  but  was  shrewd  enough  to 
base  his  refusal  on  the  grounds  that  he  did  not 
dare  to  leave  territory  which  had  so  recently  been 
returned  to  France  and  which  was  coveted  by 
England. 

Since  de  la  Tour's  commission  had  been  can- 
celed, he  had  no  further  legal  rights  in  Acadia.  In 
1645,  D'Aulnay  made  a  concerted  attack  on  Fort 
St.  Jean,  killed  several  of  the  settlers  and  hanged 
most  of  the  men  whom  he  took  prisoners,  as 
"rebels  against  His  Most  Christian  Majesty  of 
France,"  which  they  were. 

De  la  Tour  escaped  the  massacre  and  took  to  a 
wild  and  buccaneer  life.  In  two  swift  ships,  which 
remained  to  him,  he  raided  the  coasts  of  D 'Aul- 
nay's  territory,  swooped  as  a  pirate  on  all  trading 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  JESUITS       181 

vessels  bound  for  Port  Royal  and  rendered  the 
position  of  his  rival  intolerable. 

After  five  years  of  sullen  defense  against  this 
vigorous  freebooter,  D  'Aulnay  was  drowned,  leav- 
ing a  widow  and  eight  children.  De  la  Tour 
hastened  to  France,  proved  that  he  had  both  the 
experience  and  the  men  to  take  control  of  his 
own  half  of  Acadia,  and  declared  that  the  troubles 
in  the  colony  had  been  due  to  personal  matters 
and  not  to  his  disloyalty  to  France.  He  secured 
the  renewal  of  his  commission. 

Thus  strengthened  by  royal  favor,  de  la  Tour 
hurried  back  to  Port  Royal.  Thoroughly  under^ 
standing  the  chivalrous  character  of  French  fron- 
tiersmen, he  was  clever  enough  to  bring  from 
Paris  a  number  of  articles — clothing  and  the  like 
—as  gifts  to  Mme.  D  'Aulnay,  for  he  realized  that 
the  followers  of  his  former  enemy  would  be  even 
more  loyal  to  the  helpless  widow  than  they  had 
been  to  her  husband.  He  managed  his  case  so 
adroitly  that  he  wooed  and  won  Mme.  D'Aulnay, 
who  had  suffered  great  privations  since  her  hus- 
band's death,  and,  on  the  occasion  of  the  mar- 
riage, distributed  gifts  lavishly  to  all  the  men. 
Thus,  once  again,  de  la  Tour  was  sole  lord  of 
Acadia  and  of  the  mainland  coast  as  far  south  as 
Cape  Cod. 

Such  was  the  situation  in  this  part  of  America, 
when  the  Great  Rebellion  took  place  in  England, 
which  resulted  in  the  beheading  of  Charles  I  and 
the  establishment  of  the  Commonwealth  under 


182 

Cromwell.  The  Puritan  movement,  of  which  this 
was  the  culmination,  had  an  enormous  effect  upon 
the  New  World  and  opened  a  new  phase  of 
American  history. 


CHAPTER  IX 

HUDSON"  AND  THE  DUTCH 

The  witty  pen  of  Washington  Irving  wrought 
great  injustice  to  a  gallant  race.  His  derisive 
hnmor  has  caused  "Father  Knickerbocker"  and 
the  Dutch  founders  of  New  Amsterdam  to  appear 
as  comic  personages  on  the  pages  of  American 
history.  Such  a  notion  is  not  only  false,  but  also 
grievously  ungrateful. 

The  Dutch  were  a  heroic  breed.  They  were  the 
first  people  in  Europe  to  understand  religious 
liberty,  the  first  to  carve  with  their  swords  a  free 
Republic,  daring  adventurers  who  won  an  empire 
in  the  East  Indies,  and  incomparable  sailors  who 
even  disputed  with  England  the  mastery  of  the 
sea. 

Such  men  handed  down  a  noble  heritage  to  their 
descendants,  all  the  nobler  in  that  Dutch  honesty 
was  proverbial.  The  United  States  is  fortunate  in 
that  its  great  commercial  metropolis  of  New  York 
was  founded  by  such  a  sturdy  stock,  and  her  his- 
tory would  be  the  poorer  if  the  deeds  of  the  Dutch 
descendants  were  stricken  out. 

The  early  history  of  the  Dutch  in  America  deals 

183 


184        THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

mainly  with  the  Hudson  River,  and,  less  urgently, 
with  the  Delaware. 

Strictly  speaking,  the  Dutch  had  no  claim  to 
America  on  the  grounds  of  discovery.  Cabot 
probably,  and  Verrazano  certainly,  had  visited  the 
Hudson  River  a  century  before  the  first  Dutch 
vessel  touched  the  shores  of  America. 

Verrazano  passed  through  the  Narrows  and  cast 
anchor  in  New  York  Bay.  He  rightly  estimated 
the  Hudson  to  be  a  river,  not  a  strait,  and  hence 
did  not  sail  up  it,  looking  for  the  route  to  China, 
which  was  the  object  of  his  voyage. 

Aside  from  a  coasting  voyage  made  by  Estevan 
Gomez,  a  Spaniard,  in  1525,  the  French  alone  took 
advantage  of  Verrazano 's  discovery,  which  had 
been  made  under  the  French  flag.  *  *  The  River  of 
Steep  Hills, ' '  as  Verrazano  justly  named  the  Hud- 
son, was  a  good  entrance  for  fur-traders  and  a 
good  harbor  for  ships.  As  early  as  1540,  French 
traders  built  a  fort  near  the  present  site  of  Albany, 
at  the  head  of  navigation.  In  1542,  one  of  Rober- 
val's  captains  passed  through  Long  Island  Sound 
and  Hell  Gate  and  reported  having  met  traders 
from  St.  Malo  in  the  " Great  River,"  which  his 
description  shows  to  have  been  the  Hudson.  By 
1570  there  were  three  semi-permanent  French 
trading  posts  on  the  river,  one  of  these  being  sit- 
uated on  Manhattan. 

Possibly  Manhattan  was  not  an  island  at  this 
time,  but  a  peninsula,  partly  traversed  by  the 
two  streams  now  known  as  the  Spuyten  Duyvil 


HUDSON  AND  THE  DUTCH  185 

Creek  and  the  Harlem  River,  both  easily  f  ordable. 
In  recent  years  the  water  of  the  former  has  been 
turned  into  the  latter,  which  has  been  artificially 
deepened  and  is  not  a  river  at  all,  but  a  tide-water 
canal. 

During  this  period,  when  France  was  ravaged 
by  religious  strife,  England  advanced  in  maritime 
adventuring.  This  was  not  confined  to  the  semi- 
piratic  seizure  of  Spanish  treasure-ships,  it  also 
followed  the  more  legitimate  channels  of  trade. 

The  most  important  venture  in  this  direction 
was  the  Muscovy  Company,  incorporated  for  the 
purpose  of  trading  with  Russia  and  finding  a  route 
to  China  and  the  Indies  by  the  Northeast  pas- 
sage. At  this  time,  all  the  region  now  known  as 
Siberia  was  supposed  to  be  sea — the  Sea  of  Ver- 
razano,  thought  to  have  been  visible  from  the  Ches- 
apeake Peninsula. 

Among  the  most  active  officials  of  the  Muscovy 
Company  were  several  members  of  the  Hudson 
family,  from  which  Henry  Hudson,  the  Navigator, 
sprang.  In  1607  he  was  in  command  of  an  expedi- 
tion sent  by  the  Muscovy  Company  to  sail  north- 
wards from  Greenland,  passing  west  of  Spitz- 
bergen,  in  an  effort  to  reach  China  by  crossing  the 
Polar  Sea.  He  was  stopped  by  the  ice.  The  year 
following,  Hudson  tried  for  the  same  goal,  passing 
through  Barent's  Sea,  between  Spitzbergen  and 
Nova  Zembla.  Here,  again,  he  found  his  way 
blocked  by  the  Polar  ice. 

While  both  these  voyages  failed  in  their  object, 


186       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Hudson  had  reached  the  "furthest  north"  of  his 
time,  and  his  explorations  had  brought  him  fame. 
The  Dutch  East  India  Company  succeeded  in  de- 
taching the  great  navigator  from  the  service  of 
the  (English)  Muscovy  Company,  and  he  sailed 
north  under  the  flag  of  the  Netherlands,  on  April 
4,  1609,  to  renew  his  effort  to  find  the  Northeast 
Passage. 

A  few  weeks  before  sailing,  some  news  from 
America  had  turned  Hudson's  thoughts  in  that 
direction.  Captain  John  Smith  of  Virginia  had 
thoroughly  explored  Chesapeake  Bay,  which 
Verrazano  had  seen  from  the  Chesapeake 
Peninsula  and  had  believed  to  be  the  ocean 
that  washed  the  shores  of  China.  Smith  had 
found  no  strait  into  the  supposed  Sea  of  Verra- 
zano, but  he  thought  it  probable  that  there  might 
be  such  a  strait,  further  to  the  north,  and  he  had 
written  to  Hudson  to  this  effect.  This  letter 
from  John  Smitn  to  Hudson  was  to  have  a  con- 
siderable effect  upon  the  later  history  of  America. 

On  reaching  Nova  Zembla,  Hudson  found  the 
seas  as  ice-bound  and  impassable  as  they  had  been 
the  two  seasons  before.  He  took  counsel  with  his 
officers  and  crew,  read  Smith 's  letter  to  them,  and 
with  their  agreement,  decided  to  cross  the  Atlantic 
and  seek  the  Northwest  Passage  instead  of  the 
Northeast  Passage.  He  hoped  to  find  an  opening 
into  the  Sea  of  Verrazano  somewhere  north  of 
the  northernmost  latitude  explored  by  Smith. 

Hudson's  craft,  the  Half -Mo  on,  was  all  too 


HUDSON  AND  THE  DUTCH  187 

small  for  such  long  voyages,  being  of  but  80  tons 
and  carrying  a  crew  of  18  men,  all  told.  Although 
buffeted  by  severe  weather,  during  which  the  Half- 
Moon  lost  her  foremast,  the  explorer  reached 
Penobscot  Bay,  Maine,  on  July  18,  1609.  He 
stayed  there  some  little  time,  making  a  new  fore- 
mast from  a  huge  pine  tree  his  men  cut  in  the 
woods,  and  repairing  the  damaged  sails. 

Thence  he  sailed  southward  by  easy  stages, 
arriving,  at  last,  at  Machipongo  Inlet  on  the  Ches- 
apeake Peninsula.  Hudson  mistook  this  inlet  for 
the  entrance  which  led  to  the  James  River,  and, 
feeling  that  the  English  colonists  would  resent  the 
presence  of  the  Dutch  expedition,  he  turned  again 
to  the  northward. 

On  August  28,  the  Half-Moon  entered  Delaware 
Bay.  The  wide  entrance  gave  him  hopes  that  this 
might  be  the  long-desired  strait,  but  the  vessel 
soon  encountered  numerous  shoals  and  a  strong 
outward  current.  Hudson  realized  that  a  river 
bringing  down  so  much  silt  could  not  arise  on 
such  a  narrow  neck  of  land  as  was  shown  on  Ver- 
razano  's  map.  The  strait  could  not  be  here. 

Sailing  out  of  Delaware  Bay,  ,Hudson  struck 
northwards,  along  the  coast  of  what  is  now  New 
Jersey.  At  Sandy  Hook  another  great  opening 
lay  before  him.  He  entered  it  and,  on  September 
3,  1609,  dropped  anchor  in  Lower  New  York  Bay, 
between  Sandy  Hook  and  Staten  Island. 

Here,  again,  his  hopes  ran  high.  In  entering 
the  Narrows,  between  Long  Island  and  Staten 


188       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Island,  he  found  himself  in  New  York  harbor, 
another  wide  stretch  of  water.  Following  the 
southern  coast  of  this,  he  came  to  an  estuary,  a 
mile  wide,  subject  to  the  fluctuations  of  the  tide. 
This  seemed  the  long-sought  strait.  He  sailed  up 
past  Manna-hatta  Peninsula  (or  Island)  hoping, 
with  every  turn  of  the  shore,  to  see  the  great  sea 
opening  before  him.  Haverstraw  Bay  increased 
his  confidence. 

But,  alas  for  his  hopes,  just  above  the  present 
site  of  Peekskill,  he  reached  the  point  where  the 
river  narrows  almost  to  a  gorge.  The  influence  of 
the  tide  had  weakened,  and  Hudson  realized  that 
he  was  in  a  river.  He  sailed  as  far  as  the  head 
of  navigation  and  turned  back.  He  found  the 
Indians  friendly  and  the  soil  fertile.  Having 
thoroughly  mapped  the  Hudson  Elver,  he  set  sail 
for  Europe. 

Arriving  near  England,  the  Englishmen  aboard 
insisted  on  being  set  ashore.  They  had  been 
engaged  for  the  summer  only,  and  winter  was 
approaching.  On  November  7,  the  Half -Mo  on 
put  in  at  Dartmouth.  Hudson  sent  to  Amsterdam 
a  report  of  his  voyage,  and  asked  for  more  sup- 
plies and  men. 

The  Dutch  merchants  ordered  Hudson  to  report 
himself  in  Holland.  They  were  plainly  dissatis- 
fied, since  the  navigator's  western  voyage  had 
been  made  in  contradiction  of  the  orders  he  had 
received  to  seek  the  Indies  by  the  Northeast  Pas- 
sage. 


HUDSON  AND  THE  DUTCH  189 

The  news  of  Hudson's  discovery  of  the  fertile 
Hudson  Valley,  with  a  wide  and  navigable  estuary, 
had  greatly  excited  the  English  merchants.  They 
were  annoyed  that  the  expedition  had  been  under 
the  Dutch  flag,  and  appealed  to  James  I  to  compel 
the  English  navigator  to  remain  in  the  service 
of  England.  Hudson  was  ready  enough  to  do  so, 
especially  as  the  Dutch  merchants  were  unwilling 
to  grant  him  complete  liberty  of  action. 

Under  the  Muscovy  Company,  the  Discoverie 
was  fitted  up,  and  Hudson  set  sail  again  on  April 
10,  1610,  to  continue  his  search  for  the  strait  sug- 
gested by  Captain  John  Smith.  He  kept  well  to 
the  north.  From  Florida  to  Chesapeake  the  Span- 
iards had  found  no  strait.  In  Chesapeake  Bay, 
Smith  had  exhausted  the  possibilities.  From 
Chesapeake  to  Maine,  Hudson  had  explored  the 
coast  himself.  The  French  had  failed  to  find  any 
opening  in  Acadia  or  St.  Lawrence  Gulf  and  River. 
If  a  strait  there  should  prove  to  be,  it  must  lie 
further  to  the  north.  Hudson  spent  the  summer 
of  1610  along  the  Labrador  coast. 

Then  came  apparent  triumph.  The  continent 
of  North  America  came  to  an  end.  A  great  land 
(Baffin  Land)  stretched  to  the  north.  Between 
them  lay  a  narrow  opening.  The  strait  was  found 
at  last ! 

Hudson  sailed  in,  to  find  before  him  a  great  arm 
of  the  sea,  a  hundred  miles  wide  and  five  hundred 
miles  long,  that  stretch  of  water  now  known  as 
Hudson  Strait.  For  many  days  he  sailed  to  the 


westward,  his  heart  beating  ever  higher  and  higher 
in  hope.  Daily,  even  hourly,  he  searched  for  a 
great  sea — the  Sea  of  Verrazano — to  open  to  the 
southward.  He  slept  on  the  deck,  his  ears  half- 
open  for  the  watchman's  hail. 

Came  joy  unbounded!  He  found  the  sea  he 
sought!  Bound  the  point  now  called  Cape  Wos- 
tenholme,  he  saw  what  seemed  to  be  a  boundless 
ocean  before  him.  Triumphantly,  he  sailed  south- 
ward down  this  great  sea  (Hudson  Bay)  for  over 
seven  hundred  miles  until  he  came  to  its  southern 
shore  at  52°,  almost  the  same  latitude  as  Amster- 
dam. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  navigator  should 
have  taken  Hudson  Bay  to  be  a  sea,  for,  with 
Fox  Channel,  it  is  nearly  as  large  as  the  Medi- 
terranean ;  nor  is  it  surprising  that  he  should  have 
believed  it  to  open  westward  into  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  for  Hudson  Bay  is  over  five  hundred  miles 
wide,  and  lies  west  of  the  longitude  of  Peru. 

Hudson  had  hoped,  by  sailing  southward,  to 
escape  the  clutch  of  an  Arctic  winter.  When  he 
reached  James  Bay,  at  the  same  latitude  as  Am- 
sterdam, he  had  reason  to  expect  free  water  and 
a  season  not  too  rigorous.  The  climatic  terrors 
of  a  northern  land-locked  bay  were  unknown.  He 
was  soon  to  learn  them. 

Floe  ice  and  pack  ice  surrounded  the  hapless 
Discoverie.  There  was  no  escape  to  the  north, 
the  frozen  land  lay  to  the  south.  From  November 
3,  1610,  to  June  18,  1611,  the  ship  was  held  fast. 


THE   HALF   MOON 

A  model  of  Henry  Hudson's  ship.  The  Half  Moon.  In  this  little  ship  scarcely  larger 
than  a  small  yacht  and  with  a  crew  of  but  18  men,  Hudson  explored  the  coast  from 
Maine  to  Delaware. 


HUDSON    INTERVIEWS   THE    INDIANS    OF   MANHATTAN 

Hudson  later  entered  the  employ  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company  and  on  his  first 
voyage  sailed  up  the  Hudson,  to  the  site  of  Albany.  His  good  reports  of  the  country 
aroused  the  Dutch  to  further  trading  and  colonizing  efforts. 


VAN   DER    DONCK'S   MAP   OF    NEW   NETHERLANDS    1656 

This  map  shows  the  ultimate  results  of  the  Dutch  "patronships"  established  under 
the  direction  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  and  the  later  Dutch  Governors, 
ending  with  the  rule  of  Peter  Stuyvesant. 


HUDSON  AND  THE  DUTCH  191 

No  one  could  have  imagined  such  thickness  of  ice 
in  the  middle  of  summer.  The  crew  had  not 
counted  on  any  such  frigid  imprisonment  as  this, 
and  mutinied  secretly.  The  sailors  determined 
that,  as  soon  as  the  ice  should  break,  they  would 
sail  for  England  whether  their  commander  were 
willing  or  no. 

"When  the  ship  was  released,  Hudson  insisted 
on  following  the  shore  to  the  westward,  expecting 
at  any  moment  to  see  the  land  turn  sharply  south- 
ward and  thus  form  the  western  shore  of  North 
America.  There  was,  as  yet,  no  knowledge  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  barrier.  There  was  reason  to 
expect  that  the  shore  by  which  he  was  sailing 
would  presently  join  the  shore  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Columbia  River,  where  Drake  had  landed. 

The  men  mutinied  openly.  Under  the  lead  of 
Henry  Green,  Hudson 's  secretary,  they  seized  the 
navigator  and  his  young  son,  and  cruelly  set  them 
adrift  upon  that  waste  of  unknown  waters,  with 
seven  sick  men  and  scarcely  any  food.  They  were 
never  heard  of  more. 

Green  and  some  other  of  the  ringleaders  were 
slain  by  Indians  on  the  way  home,  but  the  Dis- 
coverie  reached  England  at  last.  They  told  their 
story  to  the  officers  of  the  Muscovy  Company  and 
the  survivors  were  thrown  into  jail  as  mutineers. 
Rescue  expeditions  were  dispatched  under  Butler, 
in  1612 ;  under  Gibbons,  in  1613 ;  and  under  Baffin, 
in  1614.  These  daring  navigators  explored  Hud- 
son Bay  thoroughly  and  proved  that  there  was  no 


westward  strait,  but  found  no  sign  of  Hudson  or 
his  men. 

The  Dutch  East  India  Company  had  objected 
to  Hudson 's  voyage  to  the  west  and  therefore  had 
taken  no  advantage  of  his  discoveries.  Other 
Dutch  traders  were  not  so  scrupulous.  As  early 
as  1610,  some  bluff -bowed  vessels  from  the  Neth- 
erlands made  their  way  to  Hudson  River,  which 
they  called  the  Prince  Maurice  or  Mauritius  River. 
More  followed  in  1611.  By  1612  the  Dutch  had 
established  permanent  posts  on  the  sites  of  the 
old  French  forts  at  Manhattan  and  Albany. 
Among  the  principal  traders  were  Hendrick 
Christiansen  and  Adriaen  Block. 

In  1613,  Captain  Samuel  Argall,  on  his  way 
back  from  destroying  the  French  settlements  in 
Acadia,  sailed  through  the  Narrows  to  investigate 
a  report  of  Dutch  intrusion  on  the  Hudson  River. 
England  and  Holland  were  at  peace,  but  Argall 
ordered  Christiansen  to  haul  down  the  Dutch  flag 
and  to  run  up  an  English  one  instead.  Christian- 
sen obeyed  without  protest.  No  sooner  was  Ar- 
gall's  ship  out  of  sight,  however,  than  the  Dutch 
flag  was  run  up  again,  and  there  remained.  This 
incident  of  the  flags  had  an  important  effect  on 
New  England  history,  later. 

In  the  autumn  of  1613,  Block's  ship,  the  Tiger, 
but  recently  arrived  from  Holland,  took  fire  and 
was  burned  to  the  water's  edge.  Undaunted, 
Block  built  himself  a  small  sloop,  which  he  named 
the  Onrust  (Restless).  Next  spring  he  sailed  in 


HUDSON  AND  THE  DUTCH  193 

this  tiny  craft  through  Hell  Gate,  along  Long 
Island  Sound,  explored  the  Connecticut  Eiver  as 
far  as  the  present  site  of  Hartford,  called  at  Block 
Island — which  still  bears  his  name — and  explored 
Narragansett  Bay.  Thence  he  passed  by  Texel 
(Martha's  Vineyard)  and  Vlieland  (Nantucket), 
round  Cape  Cod  and  across  Massachusetts  Bay 
to  Pye  Bay  (Nahant).  This  voyage  of  the  little 
Onrust  was  destined  to  have  important  results. 

Two  parties  struggled  for  supremacy  in  the 
Netherlands,  the  Flemish  and  the  Dutch.  The 
Flemish,  refugees  from  Belgium,  were  warlike  and 
aggressive,  eager  to  drive  out  the  last  vestige  of 
Spanish  power;  they  were  headed  by  William 
Usselincx.  The  Dutch,  having  the  political  con- 
trol, wanted  to  be  sure  of  keeping  it  by  maintain- 
ing peace ;  their  leader  was  John  of  Olden  Barne- 
veld. 

The  Flemish  were  ardent  colonists.  Through 
the  exertions  of  Usselincx  an  Ordinance  was 
passed  in  1614,  giving  trade  monopolies  to  dis- 
coverers of  unoccupied  lands.  By  Block 's  voyage 
in  the  Onrust,  a  group  of  merchants  associated 
with  him  secured  exclusive  trading  and  coloniza- 
tion rights  from  the  Upper  Delaware  as  far  north 
as  the  present  Canadian  border. 

There  were  thus  three  different  countries  which 
claimed  this  same  territory.  Elizabeth  of  Eng- 
land had  given  it  to  Raleigh,  and  James  I  later 
had  turned  it  over  to  the  Plymouth  Company. 
Louis  XIII  had  included  it  in  the  grant  to  the 


194.       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Marquise  de  Guercheville.  The  provinces  of  Hol- 
land and  Friesland  assigned  rights  of  occupancy 
to  Dutch  traders.  Such  a  rivalry  was  bound  to 
bring  on  war. 

Chief  of  the  early  settlements  established  by 
the  Dutch  on  the  Hudson  was  Fort  Nassau. 
Jacob  Elkens  was  placed  in  command  and  he  made 
an  alliance  with  the  Mohawks  in  1618  by  promis- 
ing to  sell  them  firearms  to  use  against  the  French. 
The  shots  from  Champlain's  arquebuss  were  be- 
ginning to  bear  their  fatal  fruit. 

The  year  following,  John  of  Olden  Barneveld, 
head  of  the  Dutch  peace  party,  was  beheaded  for 
treason.  Usselincx  urged  on  Flemish  coloniza- 
tion. The  trading  posts  developed  into  colonies. 

This  was  not  at  all  to  England's  liking.  In  the 
spring  of  1620,  Sir  Fernando  Gorges  of  the  Ply- 
mouth Company  sent  Captain  Dermer  to  the  Hud- 
son River.  Dermer,  politely  but  firmly,  informed 
the  Dutch  traders  that  they  were  on  land  which 
belonged  to  the  Plymouth  Company.  The  Dutch 
reply  was  that,  while  they  did  not  wish  to  give 
offense,  they  held  that  occupation  gave  the  right 
of  possession. 

As  soon  as  Dermer 's  report  was  received  in 
England,  the  Council  for  New  England  was 
formed,  which  secured  a  royal  grant  for  all  the 
territory  between  40°  and  48°,  including  both  New 
Netherland  and  New  Frarice.  This  done,  England 
officially  advised  Holland  that  the  Dutch  were 
trespassing  on  English  territory.  Holland  replied 


HUDSON  AND  THE  DUTCH  195 

in  a  manner  that  might  have  brought  on  war,  had 
it  not  been  that  neither  government  was  suffi- 
ciently stable  at  the  time  to  risk  combat  with  a 
powerful  rival. 

In  1623,  the  actual  Dutch  colonization  of  Amer- 
ica was  begun,  under  the  direction  of  the  Dutch 
West  India  Company.  The  New  Netherland 
brought  100  colonists  in  the  spring  of  that  year. 
These  divided  into  six  groups,  at  New  Amster- 
dam, at  Fort  Orange  (near  Albany),  at  Fort  Nas- 
sau II  (near  Philadelphia),  at  Fort  Good  Hope 
(near  Hartford,  Connecticut),  on  Staten  Island, 
and  on  Wallabout  Bay  (the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard). 
The  first  Governor  was  Cornelius  Jacobsen  May. 

This  scattering  had  been  done  in  the  expecta- 
tion of  the  arrival  of  ship-loads  of  colonists.  Few 
came.  The  settlers  were  recalled  to  New  Amster- 
dam. In  1624  May  was  superseded  by  William 
Verhulst,  and  in  1625  he  gave  place  to  Peter 
Minuit,  the  strongest  figure  of  early  Dutch  colo- 
nial history  in  America. 

Minuit 's  arrival  coincided  with  two  important 
changes  in  Europe.  The  first  was  the  death  of 
James  I  of  England,  the  second  was  the  death 
of  Prince  Maurice  of  Orange,  ruler  of  the  Nether- 
lands, a  few  weeks  later.  Charles  I  signed  the 
Treaty  of  Southampton  with  Prince  Frederick  of 
Orange,  providing  that  both  countries  should 
maintain  fleets  to  prey  upon  Spain,  and  that  the 
ports  of  each  nation  should  be  open  to  the  ships 
of  the  other.  This  was  followed  in  1627  by  a 


196       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

proclamation  giving  the  Dutch  full  right  to  trade 
anywhere  with  England  and  her  dependencies. 
While  New  Netherland  was  not  thus  recognized, 
the  trading  rights  of  the  Dutch  in  America  were 
permitted. 

Minuit's  first  action  was  judicious.  He  bought 
from  the  Manhattan  Indians  (of  the  Lenape  Con- 
federacy) all  title  to  Manhattan  Island  for  a  sup- 
ply of  beads  and  ribbons  to  the  value  of  sixty 
guilders  (equivalent  to  $120  in  modern  money). 
A  fort  was  built  (near  Bowling  Green).  East  of 
it  ran  a  straggling  row  of  log-houses,  accommo- 
dating about  200  people.  A  couple  of  farms  or 
bouweries  lay  north  of  this  and  the  primeval 
forest  was  entered  where  the  heart  of  New  York 
is  now. 

During  the  ten  years  1620-1630,  while  the  Dutch 
colony  of  New  Netherland  advanced  so  slowly, 
the  English  colony  of  New  England  had  gone  by 
leaps  and  bounds.  The  English  pressed  closer 
and  closer  to  the  Dutch  settlements  and  did  not 
fail  to  remind  Minuit  that  he  was  an  intruder. 
The  Dutch  governor  retained  courteous  relations 
with  the  governor  of  New  England  and  continued 
to  build  up  his  colony.  The  remarkable  success 
of  the  Dutch  on  the  high  seas,  when  they  smashed 
one  Spanish  fleet  after  another,  also  maintained 
the  prestige  of  Holland  in  the  eyes  of  the  Puritans 
of  New  England. 

Emigration  to  New  Netherland  was  slow.  As 
soon  as  the  gripe  of  Spain  was  withdrawn  from 


HUDSON  AND  THE  DUTCH  197 

Holland  and  Belgium,  those  countries  became 
prosperous.  The  farmers  were  content  to  stay 
where  they  were.  Since  the  Netherlands  permitted 
complete  religious  toleration,  there  were  no  perse- 
cuted refugees  eager  to  escape  to  another  land. 

In  order  to  stimulate  colonization,  the  Dutch 
West  India  Company  established  "patroonships." 
This  type  of  government  was  a  form  of  feudal 
system,  somewhat  after  the  Maryland  pattern. 
A  patroonship  was  granted  to  any  person  wh6, 
within  four  years  after  the  year  1629,  should  bring 
fifty  adults  to  New  Netherland  at  his  own  expense, 
clear  the  farm-land  for  his  tenants,  build  houses 
and  barns,  and  provide  cattle,  seed-grain/  and 
farm  utensils  out  of  his  own  pocket.  In  return 
for  this  expenditure  of  capital,  the  patroon  was 
granted  sixteen  miles  of  river  frontage,  either  on 
the  Hudson,  Delaware  or  other  navigable  stream, 
the  property  running  back  into  the  country  indefi- 
nitely. The  holdings  of  the  tenants  were  supposed 
to  be  large  and  the  Company  undertook  to  provide 
the  patroons  with  negro  slaves  as  rapidly  as  pos- 
sible. 

The  fates  of  the  three  principal  patroonships 
may  be  told  briefly : 

Godyn  and  Blommaert,  two  of  the  directors, 
and  Captain  De  Vries,  took  up  what  is  now  the 
State  of  Delaware.  Their  purpose  was  the  whale 
fishery.  Famine  and  Indian  massacre  destroyed 
the  colony  and  when  De  Vries  came  out  in  1632 
with  supplies  and  more  men,  he  found  nothing 


but  the  bones  of  the  former  colonists  remaining. 
The  project  was  abandoned. 

Michael  Pauw,  also  a  director,  secured  for  him- 
self all  Staten  Island  and  the  south  shore  of  the 
Hudson,  inclusive  of  the  present  sites  of  Hoboken 
and  Jersey  City.  This  patroonship  lasted  for  seven 
years,  always  under  threats  of  Indian  raids.  It 
was  difficult  to  get  tenants.  The  estate  did  not 
pay  expenses  and  Pauw  resold  it  to  the  Company 
for  a  price  lower  than  the  money  he  had  spent  on 
it  during  those  seven  years. 

Very  different  was  the  success  of  Kilian  van 
Eensselaer,  an  Amsterdam  lapidary  of  much 
wealth,  who  secured  for  his  patroonship  the  land 
now  contained  in  Albany  and  Eensselaer  Coun- 
ties. He  took  the  precaution  of  making  friends 
with  the  Mohawks,  and  paying  them  for  the  land. 
He  secured  for  his  colonists  an  excellent  body  of 
farmers,  and  the  estate  throve.  His  descendants 
were  for  many  years  among  the  most  important 
and  wealthy  settlers  of  the  Hudson  Valley. 

The  patroon  system  had  one  serious  weakness. 
It  was  designed  as  an  agricultural  plan  only,  and 
the  patroons  were  forbidden  from  engaging  in  the 
fur  trade,  which  was  expressly  reserved  as  the 
monopoly  of  the  Company.  The  patroons  saw 
that  there  was  more  money  in  fur-trading  than  in 
crops,  and  could  not  be  stopped  from  dealing  with 
the  Indians.  Minuit  was  accused  of  favoring  the 
patroons  rather  than  the  Company.  He  denied 
the  charge,  but  the  dwindling  of  the  Company's 


HUDSON  AND  THE  DUTCH  199 

fur  receipts  was  an  unanswerable  argument,  and, 
in  1632,  Governor  Minuit  was  recalled. 

He  sailed  in  March  of  that  year  in  the  Eendragt 
(Union) .  A  storm  drove  the  vessel  into  Plymouth 
Harbor,  where  her  captain  was  at  once  arrested 
for  illegal  trading  with  English  dominions  in 
America.  Minuit  was  detained  on  the  charge  that 
his  colony,  with  its  agricultural  patroonships, 
could  not  be  construed  as  a  trading  post. 

A  vigorous  diplomatic  controversy  ensued,  in 
which,  for  the  first  time,  the  Dutch  claim  to  New 
Netherland  was  squarely  made.  England  finally 
refused  to  admit  Holland's  jurisdiction,  but 
allowed  the  Dutch  to  remain  if  they  would  agree 
to  become  English  subjects.  Minuit  was  released. 
The  Eendragt  was  permitted  to  proceed  to  New 
Amsterdam,  her  valuable  cargo  of  beaver  skins 
untouched. 

With  the  close  of  Minuit 's  governorship,  the 
colony  of  New  Netherland  entered  upon  a  new 
phase,  belonging  to  colonial  expansion  rather  than 
colonial  planting.  Of  the  governorships  of 
Wouter  van  Twiller,  sometimes  called  "the 
Doubter,"  of  William  Kieft  "the  Wasp"  and  of 
the  choleric  one-legged  Peter  Stuyvesant,  who  held 
the  difficult  post  for  seventeen  hard  years,  there 
is  much  to  be  told.  The  Dutch  controlled  the  Hud- 
son River  Valley  for  over  fifty  years  and  laid  the 
foundation  of  a  sturdy  stock  of  whose  achieve- 
ments in  the  centuries  to  come,  America  would  be 
justly  proud. 


CHAPTER  X 

WANDERINGS  OF  THE  PILGRIMS 

New  England!  How  much  the  words  mean  in 
American  history !  Yet  how  different  is  America 
from  that  New  England  which  the  Pilgrims  and 
the  Puritans  established!  The  somber  figure  of 
the  Puritan  has  largely  overshadowed  the  kind- 
lier figure  of  the  Pilgrim,  but  it  was  the  Pilgrim 
who  showed  the  way  hither. 

The  United  States  was  mainly  formed  of  a 
mingling  of  "Virginia"  and  New  England.  The 
earliest  home  of  Englishmen  in  the  New  World 
was  in  Virginia.  During  the  colonial  period,  Vir- 
ginia led.  In  the  struggle  for  independence  Vir- 
ginia took  a  principal  part.  The  first  president 
of  the  United  States  was  a  Virginian. 

Yet  the  government,  the  laws  and  the  customs 
of  the  United  States  are  more  reminiscent  of  New 
England  than  of  Virginia.  The  abolition  of  caste 
is  a  northern  feature  rather  than  a  southern.  Re- 
ligiously regarded,  the  position  of  the  United 
States,  with  its  hundreds  of  conflicting  sects,  re- 
sembles neither  the  intolerance  of  New  England 
nor  the  state  church  position  of  Virginia ;  its  toler- 

200 


WANDERINGS  OF  THE  PILGRIMS      201 

ance  springs  rather  from  individualism  than  from 
autocracy  and  has  taken  character  from  both. 

As  briefly  as  may  be,  it  must  be  told  how  the 
Pilgrims  and  Puritans  came  to  be.  It  has  already 
been  shown  how  the  English  Church  severed  itself 
from  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  became 
simultaneously  both  a  Catholic  and  a  Protestant 
Church,  retaining  Catholic  rites  with  Protestant 
ways  of  thinking. 

This  appeared  to  be  an  unhappy  compromise  to 
the  extremists  of  both  parties.  Neither  was  sat- 
isfied. Of  the  two  groups,  the  ultra-Protestants 
were  the  more  discontent.  They  objected  to  out- 
ward signs  of  church  worship,  they  attacked  the 
authority  of  bishops,  and  they  held  that  all  people 
who  did  not  lead  godly  lives  should  be  expelled 
from  the  Church.  They  took,  also,  the  still  more 
sweeping  ground  that  neither  the  Crown,  the  mag- 
istrates nor  the  Church  had  any  right  to  dictate 
to  any  man  in  religious  matters. 

In  those  days,  such  a  position  was  regarded  as 
treason.  Even  Parliament — which  was  strongly 
Protestant  in  character — was  compelled  to  repel 
so  revolutionary  a  movement.  It  enacted  that 
anyone  who  denied  the  authority  of  the  Queen  in 
ecclesiastical  cases  or  who  should  frequent  non- 
authorized  churches,  should  be  imprisoned,  and,  if 
stubborn,  should  lose  his  house  and  lands  and  be 
banished. 

At  first,  the  ultra-Protestants — who  came  to  be 
known  as  Puritans — did  not  wish  to  break  away 


202       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

from  the  Church,  but  rather  to  reform  it.  There 
was  an  extreme  group  in  this  party,  however, 
which  went  much  further.  They  opposed  any  and 
every  form  of  church  government.  They  held 
that  each  congregation  should  be  a  separate  unit 
and  should  think  and  do  as  it  pleased.  These  men 
were  known  as  Separatists  and  from  their  ranks 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers  came. 

It  was  around  the  head  of  a  most  extraordinary 
man  that  the  storm  first  broke.  This  was 
"Trouble-Church"  Browne,  a  man  of  good  family 
and  learning,  possessed  of  considerable  wealth 
and  only  happy  when  he  was  being  talked  about. 
He  was  educated  at  Cambridge  University,  but 
refused  to  be  ordained  by  a  bishop  or  to  take  the 
money  of  the  state  for  preaching.  He  went  to 
the  town  of  Norwich  and  preached  to  a  congrega- 
tion there,  living  on  his  own  means. 

In  1583  "The  Church  of  the  Very  Forward" 
was  organized  in  Norwich,  a  town  filled  with  Dutch 
refugees  who  had  fled  from  the  Spanish  Inquisi- 
tion. Many  of  these  refugees  were  Anabaptists, 
a  sect  of  violent  Separatists  from  Europe,  bitterly 
hated  by  all  other  Protestants.  Several  of  the 
Anabaptists  joined  "The  Church  of  the  Very  For- 
ward. ' ' 

Browne  traveled  all  over  Norfolk,  becoming 
more  and  more  violent  as  he  went.  He  possessed 
a  logical  mind  but  an  appalling  fluency  in  vitu- 
peration. He  had  a  viper's  tongue.  "His  curses 
on  Queen  and  Church,"  wrote  a  contemporary, 


"make  the  very  street-ruffians  shudder."  He  was 
twice  imprisoned,  but  was  released  at  the  request 
of  Lord  Burghley,  who  was  his  kinsman. 

From  England  he  went  to  Holland,  where  a 
small  group  of  the  most  extreme  English  Sepa- 
ratists had  gathered,  under  Cartwright.  There 
Browne 's  extravagant  violence  passed  beyond  all 
bounds.  He  announced  that  every  member  of  a 
church  had  the  right  to  examine  and  criticize  the 
private  life  of  every  other  member,  to  decide 
whether  he  or  she  were  a  saint  or  no.  Some 
fanatics  tried  to  follow  his  advice.  A  cyclone  of 
scandal,  spite  and  abuse  broke  loose.  The  congre- 
gation went  to  pieces  immediately. 

Then  Browne  took  to  writing  Separatist  books 
of  a  most  inflammatory  and  treasonable  character. 
These  were  printed  in  Holland  and  shipped  to 
England.  Two  of  his  friends  were  hanged  for 
circulating  them. 

After  a  while  Browne  got  tired  of  Holland. 
Wishing  to  return  to  England  he  changed  his 
opinions,  recanted,  agreed  to  obey  the  Church  of 
England,  and  was  allowed  to  come  home.  He 
broke  out  again,  however,  and  was  arrested. 
When  warned  that  he  might  be  hanged  if  he  con- 
tinued this  violence,  Browne  agreed  to  become 
ordained  and  lived  for  thirty  years  afterwards 
as  a  parish  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England. 
This  abandonment  by  their  leader  was  a  terrible 
blow  to  the  Separatists  of  England,  who  had 
prided  themselves  on  being  called  "Brownists." 


204       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Very  different  in  character  were  the  next  lead- 
ers of  the  movement,  Henry  Barrow  and  John 
Greenwood.  Of  their  sincerity  there  was  never 
any  question.  Barrow  spent  most  of  his  life  in 
prison,  but  wrote  continuously.  Greenwood  di- 
rected a  congregation  in  Southwark,  London,  un- 
til he  also  was  thrown  into  jail  for  attacking  the 
Queen. 

Both  men  were  tried  and  sentenced  to  death. 
Elizabeth  refused  to  allow  them  to  be  hanged. 
Barrow  and  Greenwood  mistook  the  royal  clem- 
ency for  weakness.  They  issued  some  more 
pamphlets,  so  revolutionary,  so  seditious  and  so 
gross  in  their  accusations  that  they  could  not  be 
overlooked.  Elizabeth  gave  her  consent,  and  both 
men  were  hanged.  The  Queen  regretted  her  de- 
cision, however,  and  said  to  the  bishops  who  had 
urged  the  sentence, 

"My  Lords,  it  is  a  sad  matter  when  good  men 
are  put  to  death  in  my  realm  1 ' ' 

She  never  permitted  any  execution  of  Separa- 
tists thereafter. 

The  Queen's  combined  pity  and  sternness  had 
their  effect.  Browne  had  conformed.  Barrow 
and  Greenwood  were  dead.  Two  of  the  colpor- 
teurs of  seditious  literature  had  been  hanged.  A 
third  confessed  and  received  the  royal  pardon. 
The  most  unyielding  members  had  emigrated  to 
Holland. 

When  Elizabeth  died,  in  1603,  the  Separatists 
hoped  to  find  a  milder  monarch  in  James  I.  They 


WANDERINGS  OF  THE  PILGRIMS     205 

were  mistaken.  The  Stuart  king  feared  the  new 
sect,  and,  like  most  weak  men,  he  loved  to  bully 
the  weaker.  At  the  Hampton  Court  Conference, 
he  announced, 

"I  will  make  them  conform,  or  I  will  harry 
them  out  of  this  land,  or  else  worse." 

The  exodus  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  was  the  di- 
rect result  of  this  policy  of  James  I. 

Several  small  communities  of  Separatists  had 
developed  in  a  small  triangle  of  country  where 
the  counties  of  Nottinghamshire,  Derbyshire  and 
Lincolnshire  join.  The  most  important  was  at 
Scrooby.  Eichard  Clyfton  was  its  pastor,  John 
Robinson  its  teacher,  William  Brewster  its  elder 
and  William  Bradford  its  strongest  layman. 
From  this  congregation  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  came. 
A  second  group,  which  also  played  a  part  in  the 
history  of  America,  was  at  Gainsborough,  and 
John  Smyth  was  its  pastor. 

The  troubles  of  the  Separatists  grew  heavier 
and  heavier.  The  Puritans  did  not  love  them. 
The  Presbyterians  regarded  them  as  a  thorn  in 
the  flesh.  The  Church  persecuted  them.  The 
magistrates  suspected  them  as  traitors.  They  sent 
a  petition  to  James  I,  but  the  King  curtly  an- 
swered that  if  they  would  not  conform  "they 
must  dispose  of  themselves  and  their  families 
some  other  ways." 

Exile  became  compulsory.  Holland  was  beck- 
oning them.  There  were  two  Separatist  congre- 
gations in  Amsterdam.  One  was  the  "Ancient 


206        TPIE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Church  of  English  Exiles,"  founded  in  1594  from 
Greenwood's  congregation  and  Barrow's  friends. 
The  other  was  a  group,  under  Francis  Johnson, 
which  had  sailed  from  England  in  1597,  with  the 
intention  of  colonizing  Newfoundland,  but  which 
had  been  attacked  by  pirates  and  had  turned  to- 
wards home ;  knowing  that  they  would  not  be  per- 
mitted to  land  in  England,  these  Separatists  had 
sailed  for  Holland. 

Flight  from  Scrooby  and  from  Gainsborough 
was  more  easy  to  decide  upon  than  to  accomplish. 
It  was  a  life  and  death  matter.  In  order  to  leave 
England,  a  royal  license  was  necessary.  James  I 
was  not  anxious  to  be  gracious  to  a  sect  he  hated. 
The  Pilgrims  of  Scrooby  did  not  dare  to  ask  for  a 
license,  but,  in  1607,  determined  to  flee  secretly. 

They  arranged  with  an  English  captain  to  meet 
them  at  a  small  fishing  village  not  far  from  Bos- 
ton, in  Lincolnshire.  Selling  all  that  they  could 
not  carry,  and  becoming  "pilgrims  and  wanderers 
upon  the  earth,"  they  set  forth.  They  were  so 
afraid  of  being  late  that  they  arrived  at  Boston 
several  days  too  early.  The  captain  did  not  ap- 
pear until  a  week  after  the  date  appointed. 

This  fortnight's  delay  was  expensive,  and,  what 
was  worse,  dangerous.  It  excited  suspicion.  The 
people  of  Boston  asked  who  these  people  could 
be,  who  could  give  no  account  of  themselves  and 
seemed  to  be  waiting  for  something,  what,  they 
would  not  say. 

When  the  captain  finally  arrived,  he  learned  of 


THE   PILGRIMS   ON    THE   MAYFLOWER 

From  the  decoration  in  the  Boston  State  House  by  Henry  Oliver  Walher. 


THE    PILGRIMS   ATTEMPT   TO   ESCAPE   TO  HOLLAND 

Fortunately  for  the  Pilgrims,  Bradford  was  one  of  those  who  escaped  from  the  officers 
ot  the  crown  and  reached  the  Dutch  ship  and  from  Holland  was  able  to  make  better 
arrangements  for  assisting  those  who  remained  behind  to  follow  him. 


THE   FIRST   THANKSGIVING    IN   AMERICA 

Scarcely  had  the  Pilgrims  landed  when  a  few  gathered  together,  gave  earnest  thanks 
for  safe  deliverance  from  the  perils  of  the  sea,  and  asked  a  blessing  upon  their  new 
colony. 


this  talk.  He  realized  the  risk  he  was  running 
in  carrying  suspected  persons  who  had  no  license 
to  leave.  As  soon  as  the  Pilgrims  were  all  on 
board,  he  turned  back  into  the  harbor,  betrayed 
the  would-be  exiles  to  the  authorities,  and  the  Pil- 
grims were  led  through  the  streets  of  Boston  in 
derision. 

The  Boston  magistrates,  however,  were  inclined 
towards  Puritanism  rather  than  towards  the 
Church.  They  treated  the  Pilgrims  with  as  little 
harshness  as  the  laws  would  allow.  They  could 
not  allow  them  to  sail  without  a  royal  license,  of 
course,  and  they  had  no  right  to  give  such.  So, 
putting  Bradford,  Brewster  and  five  other  of  the 
leaders  in  prison,  the  magistrates  released  the 
rest. 

This  might  be  merciful,  but  it  was  but  a  mod- 
erate sort  of  mercy.  It  left  the  Scrooby  men  and 
women  to  wander  homeless  on  the  Lincolnshire 
fens  during  a  severe  winter.  Some  of  the  towns- 
folk of  Boston  and  some  of  the  country-folk  of  the 
fens  took  pity  on  these  hapless  refugees  and  gave 
them  shelter  and  food,  in  charity.  Nevertheless, 
many  died. 

In  the  spring  of  1608,  another  attempt  was 
made.  This  time,  the  contract  was  made  with  a 
Dutch  captain,  who  would  not  be  tempted  to  be- 
tray them  to  the  English  authorities.  In  order  to 
avoid  reawakening  suspicion  in  Boston,  the  place 
chosen  for  the  embarkation  was  a  lonely  moor- 


208       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

land  shore  on  the  Humber,  between  Grimsby  and 
Hull. 

The  men  marched  the  weary  miles  on  foot,  sleep- 
ing in  the  open,  for  they  dared  not  ask  for  shelter, 
lest  the  alarm  should  be  raised.  Their  only  aim 
was  a  desire  to  worship  in  their  own  way,  their 
only  crime  was  an  attack  upon  the  way  that  others 
worshiped.  Yet,  for  this,  they  were  stealing 
across  the  fens  like  hunted  criminals,  fearing  that 
every  cottage  light  might  be  a  signal  to  their  foes, 
that  every  hoof -beat  on  the  road  might  be  bring- 
ing news  of  the  betrayal  of  their  plans. 

The  women  and  children  were  sent  off  in  a  small 
sailing  boat,  that  they  might  reach  the  embarking 
point  with  less  fatigue.  But  the  day  was  stormy, 
the  sea  was  rough  and  most  of  the  women  were 
seasick.  They  begged  for  a  quiet  night's  sleep. 

The  boatmen  were  unwilling,  for  they  were  re- 
sponsible for  the  safe  arrival  of  their  charges, 
but  the  women  were  in  such  distress  that  they 
agreed.  In  order  to  be  well  hidden,  they  ran  the 
boat  up  a  narrow  creek  in  the  muddy  fen  coun- 
try, a  creek  up  which  none  of  the  boatmen  had 
ever  been. 

When  the  tide  went  down,  the  boat  rested  on 
the  mud.  Heavily  laden,  she  sank  into  the  suck- 
ing ooze  so  deeply  that,  at  the  next  high  tide, 
she  did  not  rise.  The  mud  gripped  her  fast.  The 
water  rose  over  the  gunwales,  ruining  most  of  the 
provisions  which  had  been  prepared  for  the  voy- 


WANDERINGS  OF  THE  PILGRIMS      209 

age  and  soaking  many  of  the  bundles  which  con- 
tained the  Pilgrims'  all. 

This  caused  a  fatal  delay.  The  Dutch  skip- 
per arrived  at  the  appointed  spot,  just  at  dawn, 
for  he  knew  that  he  was  carrying  a  dangerous 
cargo,  and  did  not  want  to  wait  off  shore  a  sec- 
ond longer  than  was  necessary  to  board  his  pas- 
sengers. 

But  the  women  and  the  children  were  not  there ! 

In  all  haste,  he  sent  one  of  his  boats  away  to 
fetch  the  laggards,  which  left  him  with  but  one 
boat  to  transfer  the  other  passengers  to  his  ship 
from  the  shore. 

He  had  just  taken  the  first  boat-load  aboard 
when  he  saw  a  strong  body  of  horsemen  come  gal- 
loping over  the  hill. 

Not  wanting  to  be  clapped  into  prison,  the 
Dutch  skipper  recalled  his  boats,  hoisted  anchor, 
made  sail  and  stood  away,  just  as  the  King's  of- 
ficers reached  the  beach.  They  waved  a  paper  and 
beckoned  him  to  return,  but  the  Dutch  skipper 
threw  a  piece  of  canvas  over  his  stern,  so  that 
the  name  of  his  vessel  could  not  be  read,  and 
headed  for  the  choppy  waters  of  the  North  Sea. 
The  weather  was  ugly  and  speedily  developed  into 
a  storm,  which  drove  the  little  craft  to  the  coast 
of  Norway,  where  she  was  all  but  wrecked,  but, 
after  much  delay,  she  reached  Amsterdam  in 
safety. 

The  officers  were  unable  to  do  anything.  They 
could  not  arrest  the  Pilgrims  who  had  not  em- 


210       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

barked,  for  as  yet  they  had  done  nothing  illegal. 
They  were  compelled  to  return  to  Boston,  while 
those  of  the  men  who  had  been  left  behind  went 
to  the  rescue  of  the  women  and  children,  still  wait- 
ing by  their  water-logged  boat  stuck  in  a  muddy 
creek. 

Fortunately  for  the  Pilgrims,  Bradford  was 
one  of  those  who  had  reached  the  Dutch  ship,  and, 
from  Holland,  he  was  able  to  make  better  arrange- 
ments for  the  journey.  Most  of  the  Pilgrims 
who  remained  were  plundered  of  all  they  had,  or 
were  compelled  to  sell  even  their  spare  clothing 
to  buy  tbod.  Finally,  by  the  kindly  blindness  of 
the  Boston  magistrates,  all  the  surviving  members 
of  the  Scrooby  congregation  made  their  way  to 
Holland,  although  penniless. 

The  Gainsborough  congregation  emigrated 
without  any  such  disasters.  Its  pastor,  John 
Smyth,  had  been  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  un- 
til a  couple  of  years  before,  and  was  not  as  well 
known  as  a  Separatist.  The  emigrants  were 
fewer  in  number  and  less  conspicuous.  They 
reached  Amsterdam  in  the  summer  of  1608,  while 
Bradford  was  trying  to  collect  the  scattered  mem- 
bers of  the  Scrooby  flock. 

The  Pilgrims  decided  not  to  join  the  "Ancient 
Church  of  English  Exiles,"  but  continued  their 
own  congregation  under  the  pastorate  of  John 
Eobinson.  For  this  independence  they  were  soon 
devoutly  thankful. 

Soon  after  their  arrival  the  controversy  over 


WANDERINGS  OF  THE  PILGRIMS     211 

the  minister's  wife 's  hat  arose.  This  proved  more 
important  than  so  trifling  a  matter  would  suggest. 
It  led  to  the  coming  of  Pilgrims  to  America. 

Francis  Johnson  was  pastor  of  the  Ancient 
Church  when  the  Pilgrims  arrived.  A  short  time 
before  their  coming,  he  had  married  a  widow. 
The  lady  preferred  gayer  colors  in  her  dresses 
than  most  of  the  godly  Separatists  approved. 

One  Sunday,  Mistress  Johnson  appeared  in  the 
meeting  house  with  a  velvet  hat.  The  council  of 
the  church  discussed  the  matter  gravely  and  sol- 
emnly, and  finally  gave  a  decision  that  the  hat 
was  too  "topish"  or  showy.  Johnson  defended 
his  wife.  The  quarrel  raged  for  three  years,  and 
finally  the  church  split  over  the  hat,  the  stricter 
party,  under  Ainsworth,  forming  a  congregation 
of  its  own. 

The  Johnson  congregation  played  a  minor  part 
in  American  colonization.  Blackwall  became  pas- 
tor on  the  death  of  Johnson  in  1618,  and  under- 
took to  lead  his  flock  to  Virginia.  He  took  ship 
with  his  fellow-members  to  London,  but  the 
Separatists  were  promptly  arrested,  not  having 
a  license  to  sail.  The  Virginia  Company  did  not 
want  any  religious  quarreling  in  Jamestown,  and 
told  those  who  wished  to  go  that  they  must  submit 
to  the  bishops. 

A  few  did  so,  since  they  had  abandoned  their 
homes  in  Holland,  and  England  would  neither 
allow  them  to  land  nor  permit  them  to  sail. 
"Having  secured  the  blessing  of  the  Archbishop 


212       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

by  ill  means,"  as  one  of  their  leaders  said, 
they  grew  ashamed  of  themselves  and  began  to 
quarrel  violently  with  each  other.  The  Company 
had  little  interest  in  them,  the  bishops  sneered  at 
them,  their  fellow-passengers  despised  them. 
They  left  London  ill-led  and  worse  equipped. 
Many  died  of  disease  or  hunger  before  reaching 
Virginia.  The  few  that  survived  found  themselves 
regarded  with  suspicion  and  aversion,  and  were 
eventually  absorbed. 

The  Gainsborough  congregation  fared  little  bet- 
ter under  the  leadership  of  its  eccentric  pastor 
John  Smyth.  He  reached  the  point,  at  last,  of 
declaring  the  English  translation  of  the  Bible  to 
be  useless,  and  openly  asserted  that  no  one  who 
had  not  read  it  in  the  original  Hebrew  and  Greek 
could  be  sure  of  salvation.  He  became  a  violent 
opponent  of  Calvinism,  which  cost  him  most  of  his 
members  and  his  church  fell  to  pieces. 

Pastor  Johnson's  wife's  hat  and  Smyth's  at- 
tack on  the  English  version  of  the  Bible  caused 
an  entire  change  of  plan  on  the  part  of  the  Pil- 
grim Fathers.  Their  pastor,  John  Robinson,  was 
the  ablest  and  most  sincerely  spiritual  man  of  all 
the  leaders  of  the  English  Separatists  in  Amster- 
dam. That  godly  men  should  worry  more  over  a 
woman 's  hat  than  about  their  faith  was  more  than 
he  could  stand.  He  decided  to  shake  the  dust  of 
Amsterdam  off  his  feet. 

In  February,  1609,  Eobinson  sent  a  petition 


WANDERINGS  OF  THE  PILGRIMS     213 

signed  by  one  hundred  of  his  followers  to  the 
burgomaster  of  the  city  of  Leyden,  asking  permis- 
sion to  settle  there.  As  the  Pilgrims  were  known 
to  be  good  men  and  honest  workers,  the  petition 
was  granted  and  the  Scrooby  congregation  left 
Amsterdam. 

Between  Amsterdam  and  Leyden  there  was  an 
enormous  difference.  Leyden  was  famous  for  its 
learning  and  its  progressiveness.  In  the  year  that 
the  Pilgrims  went  there,  public  free  schools  were 
organized  (free  schools  were  not  organized  in 
England  for  more  than  a  century  later).  There 
was  a  wide  equality  in  franchise.  Toleration 
prevailed  both  in  political  and  religious  matters. 
There  was  freedom  of  speech  and  freedom  of  let- 
ters. Idleness  was  regarded  as  shameful,  the  rich- 
est burgher  worked  as  hard  as  the  poorest  laborer. 

Leyden  thus  presented  to  the  eyes  of  the  Pil- 
grims a  condition  more  advanced  than  any  Eng- 
lish city  of  that  time.  In  England,  all  education 
was  still  in  the  hands  of  the  Church.  Neither 
political  or  religious  toleration  prevailed  under 
James  I.  The  censorship  of  all  printed  matter 
was  a  prerogative  of  the  Crown.  Local  appoint- 
ments were  by  royal  favor.  The  aristocracy  of 
England  was  a  landed  aristocracy,  and  lived  upon 
its  rents  and  holdings. 

When,  later,  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  came  to  settle 
in  a  new  land,  they  brought  with  them  rather  the 
customs  of  the  land  in  which  they  had  dwelt  peace- 
fully for  ten  years  than  those  of  the  land  from 


214.       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

which  they  had  been  exiled.  Plymouth  was  not 
all  Dutch,  nor  yet  all  English,  but  a  blend  of  the 
two. 

Yet  Leyden  was  not  a  perfect  abiding  place. 
The  climate  did  not  suit  the  English  immigrants. 
There  was  no  land  to  spare  for  the  Scrooby  farm- 
ers, who  had  been  compelled  to  become  artisans, 
or  even  laborers.  The  guilds  of  the  Dutch  mer- 
chants were  close  corporations,  which  did  not  ad- 
mit foreigners  on  an  equal  basis. 

The  Pilgrims  had  a  greater  fault  to  find  with 
Leyden  than  all  these.  Their  children  were  be- 
coming Dutch.  In  their  own  phrase :  *  *  The  chil- 
dren were  getting  the  reins  off  their  necks  and 
departing  from  their  parents." 

The  Dutch  Sunday,  too,  was  a  trial  to  them. 
In  Holland,  the  standard  of  morality  was  high 
and  the  people  were  industrious ;  hence  they  saw 
no  harm  in  innocent  amusement.  In  England  un- 
der the  Stuarts,  the  standard  of  morality  was  low 
and  laziness  was  widespread;  hence  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  had  been  brought  up  to  regard  any  amuse- 
ment as  sinful.  To  use  their  own  words  again: 
"the  children  preferred  to  play  than  to  behave 
in  godly  wise." 

Again  Eobinson  urged  a  move.  The  Twelve 
Years '  Truce  with  Spain  was  coming  to  an  end. 
Leyden,  near  the  sea,  might  catch  the  worst  of  the 
storm.  A  Catholic  reaction  in  Germany  had  al- 
ready set  aflame  that  religious  hatred  which  soon 
was  to  blaze  into  the  dreadful  Thirty  Years '  War. 


WANDERINGS  OF  THE  PILGRIMS     215 

The  Pilgrim  Fathers  decided  to  depart  from  Hol- 
land. 

Robinson  opened  correspondence  with  both  the 
London  and  the  Plymouth  Companies,  control- 
ling ''Virginia"  and  "Northern  Virginia"  re- 
spectively. In  1617  the  London  Company  offered 
them  a  grant  on  condition  that  they  should  take 
the  Oath  of  Allegiance,  which  included  acceptance 
of  the  Crown  as  authority  in  religious  matters. 
It  was  to  avoid  this  very  oath  that  the  Pilgrims 
had  exiled  themselves  from  their  own  land. 

Robinson  drew  up  a  Declaration  of  Faith  which 
was  so  cleverly  worded  as  to  seem  an  agreement, 
though  it  was  not.  James  I,  known  as  "the  wis- 
est fool  in  Christendom,"  saw  the  weak  point  at 
once.  Through  the  Privy  Council  he  put  this 
pointed  question: 

"Who  shall  make  your  ministers?" 

To  this,  even  Robinson  could  not  make  a  suit- 
able answer,  for  the  Pilgrims  were  Congrega- 
tionalists  and  denied  the  authority  of  bishops. 

Finally,  by  a  very  roundabout  method,  a  patent 
was  granted  to  them  through  John  Whincop.  The 
royal  consent  was  not  given,  but  James  I  declared 
that  he  would  not  molest  the  emigrants,  if  they 
lived  at  peace  with  their  neighbors.  While  this 
plan  was  under  discussion,  a  certain  Thomas  Wes- 
ton  came  to  Leyden,  bringing  a  grant  from  the 
London  Company  to  the  Merchant  Adventurers, 
under  the  name  of  John  Pierce.  The  WTiincop 
offer  lapsed. 


216       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Weston  's  part  in  the  affair  is  hard  to  untangle. 
Tradition  states  that  he  was  secretly  acting  for 
the  Plymouth  Company  (Council  of  New  Eng- 
land) while  outwardly  working  for  the  London 
Company.  The  Pilgrims  concluded  an  arrange- 
ment with  the  Merchant  Adventurers,  with  Weston 
as  go-between. 

Briefly,  the  plan  was  based  on  the  cost  of  trans- 
portation to  America.  It  cost  ten  pounds  to  send 
each  emigrant,  and  each  man  who  went  was  rated 
at  one  share.  Each  ten  pounds  subscribed  also 
counted  as  one  share.  For  seven  years  the  colo- 
nists were  to  be  fed  and  clothed  out  of  the  common 
stock  and,  during  that  time,  the  product  of  all  their 
labors  should  be  paid  in  to  that  stock.  At  the  end 
of  the  seven  years,  the  property  was  to  be  divided, 
each  member,  whether  colonist  or  capitalist,  re- 
ceiving according  to  the  number  of  his  shares. 

To  modern  ideas  it  seems  strange  to  value  seven 
years  of  the  life  of  such  a  man  as  William  Brad- 
ford as  worth  ten  pounds,  and  still  more  unfair 
to  make  no  difference  between  Governor  and  un- 
skilled laborer.  Yet,  in  the  light  of  those  times, 
it  seemed  fair  enough.  The  history  of  Virginia 
was  a  long  record  of  investments  which  brought 
nothing  in  return.  As  for  the  Pilgrims,  any  sys- 
tem which  guaranteed  transportation  and  seven 
year's  food  seemed  satisfactory,  at  first. 

When  all  was  ready,  when  many  of  the  exiles 
had  sold  their  houses  and  abandoned  their  busi- 
nesses, the  leaders  of  the  Pilgrims  learned  that 


WANDERINGS  OF  THE  PILGRIMS     217 

Weston  was  tricking  them,  and  that  the  Merchant 
Adventurers  had  changed  the  conditions.  It  was 
too  late  to  retreat. 

In  July,  1620,  in  an  unseaworthy  ship,  the 
Speedwell,  the  first  detachment  of  the  Pilgrims 
sailed  from  Delft  Haven.  They  went  direct  to 
London,  where  some  English  Separatists  were 
awaiting  them  in  the  Mayflower,  a  ship  which  had 
been  chartered  by  the  Merchant  Adventurers. 

On  their  arrival  in  London  the  Pilgrim  colo- 
nists learned  of  the  changes  which  had  been  made 
at  the  last  moment.  Many  refused  to  go.  Wes- 
ton grew  angry  at  this  interference  in  his  secret 
plots  and  refused  to  have  anything  further  to  do 
with  the  Pilgrims,  bidding  them  "  stand  on  their 
own  legs. ' ' 

After  they  had  collected  every  penny  possible, 
the  Pilgrims  were  still  lacking  a  hundred  pounds 
of  the  funds  needed  to  allow  the  ships  to  get  away. 
They  were  compelled  to  sell  most  of  the  cargo  of 
butter  and  cheese  they  had  brought  from  Holland, 
part  of  which  they  had  intended  to  use  for  food, 
and  part  of  which  was  set  aside  for  the  purchase 
of  arms  and  ammunition.  Thus  meagerly  sup- 
plied, they  set  out  from  London. 

The  Speedwell  was  unfit  for  a  long  voyage.  The 
two  ships  were  compelled  to  put  in  at  Dartmouth. 
After  some  repairs  were  made,  they  set  out  again. 
But  the  Speedwell  soon  sprang  another  leak,  and, 
after  having  reached  300  miles  out  to  sea,  the 
Pilgrims  were  forced  to  put  back  to  Plymouth. 


218       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Accusations  were  not  lacking  that  the  Speedwell's 
accidents  were  deliberate,  but  these  were  never 
proved.  It  was  decided  to  leave  the  nnseaworthy 
craft  behind. 

Exactly  102  persons  crowded  into  the  May- 
flower, a  craft  of  some  180  tons.  The  vessel  had 
been  bought  cheaply  and  was  none  too  seaworthy. 
Less  than  a  dozen  of  her  passengers  belonged  to 
the  old  Scrooby  Congregation.  Only  thirty-five 
have  been  identified  as  belonging  to  the  Leyden 
Group.  Most  of  the  colonists  joined  in  England, 
among  which  settlers  were  Priscilla  Mullins  and 
John  Alden,  romantic  figures  of  early  New  Eng- 
land life.  John  Carver  was  in  charge.  Captain 
Miles  Standish,  a  professional  soldier  of  fortune, 
was  military  commander. 

It  was  on  September  6, 1620,  that  the  Mayflower 
set  out  on  her  historic  voyage,  much  too  late  in 
the  year  for  such  a  desperate  venture  as  awaited 
them.  Yet  that  little  vessel,  with  her  102  colo- 
nists, was  destined  to  become  the  most  famous 
ship  in  American  history.  Many  other  vessels 
crossed  the  Atlantic,  both  before  and  after,  with 
men  as  resolute  aboard,  yet  the  names  of  the  ships 
are  forgotten.  The  glory  of  the  Mayflower  re- 
mains. 


CHAPTER  XI 

ON  BUGGED  PLYMOUTH  SHORE 

Although  the  sailing  of  the  Mayflower  was  a  de- 
cisive date  in  the  founding  of  New  England,  it  is 
not  to  be  thought  that  the  Pilgrims  were  the  first 
colonists  in  those  parts,  still  less  the  discoverers 
of  the  region. 

As  early  as  1602,  Gilbert  and  Gosnold  reached 
Maine  with  60  colonists,  with  the  intention  of  mak- 
ing a  permanent  colony  and  persuading  Elizabeth 
to  give  them  a  grant  from  the  land  given  to  Ra- 
leigh, that  courtier  being  out  of  favor.  But  the 
Concord  found  so  rich  a  cargo  of  sassafras  wood 
and  furs  that  the  colonists  returned  with  the  ship 
to  get  their  share  of  the  gains. 

In  1603,  Martin  Pring  went  with  two  ships  to 
"WhitsonBay"  (probably  Plymouth  Harbor)  and 
returned  in  the  autumn  with  a  cargo  of  sassafras 
wood.  In  1605  a  most  important  voyage  of  ex- 
ploration was  made  by  Captain  George  Waymouth 
in  the  Archangel,  the  St.  George  River  being  dis- 
covered and  mapped.  These  voyages  were  the 
basis  on  which  the  Plymouth  Company  was  or- 
ganized, and  determined  the  character  of  the  dou- 
ble Charter  of  1606. 

219 


220       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

In  the  autumn  of  that  year  Pring  discovered 
the  Sagadahoc  (Kennebec)  Eiver,  his  reports  of 
which  were  so  glowing  that  the  Popham  colony 
was  sent  there  the  following  year.  This  group 
of  settlers  formed  the  first  colonization  of  North 
Virginia. 

Two  vessels,  the  Gift  of  God  and  the  Mary  and 
John  were  sent  on  this  expedition.  The  former 
was  commanded  by  Captain  George  Popham,  a 
nephew  of  Sir  John  Popham,  the  leader  of  the 
Plymouth  Company;  the  latter  was  commanded 
by  Captain  Raleigh  Gilbert,  son  of  Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert.  They  sailed  from  Plymouth  on  June  1, 
1607,  with  over  a  hundred  settlers  on  board. 

A  short  distance  beyond  the  Azores,  the  ships 
were  separated  in  a  violent  storm.  The  Mary 
and  John  was  driven  north  of  Nova  Scotia,  but 
on  August  7  she  reached  a  small  island  of  the  St. 
George  group,  which  had  been  agreed  upon  as  a 
rendezvous.  The  Gift  of  God  arrived  at  the  point 
twelve  hours  later.  This  ability  of  English  navi- 
gators to  hold  a  course  with  such  exactitude  is  of 
great  importance  in  relation  to  the  Mayflower's 
voyage,  thirteen  years  later. 

On  August  16,  1607,  after  visiting  a  tribe  of  In- 
dians which  Waymouth  had  encountered,  and  af- 
ter exploring  the  Pemaquid  River,  the  two  ships 
arrived  at  the  Sagadahoc  River  and  a  site  for  the 
colony  was  chosen.  One  ship's  crew  and  half  the 
colonists  were  set  at  building  a  fort,  the  others 
were  engaged  in  trading  furs,  in  gathering  mus- 


ON  PLYMOUTH  SHORE  221 

sel-pearls  and  in  cutting  the  much-desired  sassa- 
fras wood. 

The  Mary  and  John  returned  in  October,  with 
urgent  letters  asking  for  more  supplies  as  soon  as 
possible,  the  Gift  of  God  sailed  two  months  later. 
She  bore  a  letter  from  George  Popham,  giving 
some  extraordinary  misinformation  about  the 
country.  Among  other  errors  he  wrote : 

"So  far  as  relates  to  commerce,  all  the  natives 
constantly  affirm  that  in  these  parts  there  are  nut- 
megs, mace  and  cinnamon,  besides  pitch,  Brazil 
wood,  cochineal  and  ambergris.  .  .  .  Besides,  they 
positively  assure  me  that  there  is  a  certain  sea  in 
the  western  or  opposite  part  of  this  province, 
distant  not  more  than  seven  days'  journey  from 
our  fort  of  St.  George  in  Sagadahoc,  a  sea  large 
and  wide  and  deep,  of  the  boundaries  of  which  they 
are  wholly  ignorant,  which  cannot  be  any  other 
than  the  Southern  Sea,  reaching  to  the  regions  of 
China,  which  unquestionably  cannot  be  far  from 
these  parts." 

It  is  evident  that  the  route  to  the  Spice  Is- 
lands and  China  was  as  eager  a  quest  in  the  days 
of  the  Plymouth  Company  as  in  the  days  of  Co- 
lumbus more  than  a  century  before.  The  refer- 
ence to  "nutmegs,  mace  and  cinnamon"  was  in  the 
highest  degree  absurd,  for  these  are  tropical  prod- 
ucts ;  Popham  had  not  yet  found  out  what  a  New 
England  winter  was  like.  The  Indian  reference 
to  the  sea  was  undoubtedly  "Big  Water,"  as  Lake 
Superior  was  called. 


222       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

The  summer  had  been  warm  and  the  autumn 
balmy,  justifying  all  the  praises  showered  on  the 
climate  by  earlier  explorers.  None  of  these  had 
stayed  through  a  Maine  winter.  It  never  oc- 
curred to  the  English  to  imagine  that  a  climate 
which  was  so  much  hotter  than  their  own  in  sum- 
mer could  be  so  much  colder  in  the  winter.  Their 
houses  were  poorly  constructed  and  the  huge 
open  fireplaces  consumed  an  enormous  amount  of 
fuel  while  giving  out  but  little  heat. 

The  winter  of  1607  was  one  of  the  coldest  on 
record.  In  North  Virginia  it  was  appalling.  The 
boats  were  ice-bound,  the  settlers  dare  scarcely 
go  out-of-doors.  Scurvy  added  its  terrors  to  ex- 
posure. Soon  after  Christmas,  in  the  vain  en- 
deavor to  warm  the  houses,  a  serious  fire  oc- 
curred, burning  several  huts  and  the  store-house. 
Less  than  half  the  supply  of  food  was  saved. 
Even  on  short  rations,  famine  was  not  far  away. 

George  Popham,  president  of  the  Colony,  al- 
ready an  old  man,  died  soon  after  the  fire.  Cap- 
tain Gilbert  kept  the  men  at  work,  got  a  little  corn 
in  trade  with  near-by  villages  of  Indians,  man- 
aged to  maintain  contentment  in  spite  of  the 
scanty  food,  and  got  a  cargo  of  furs  and  woods 
ready. 

The  relief  ship  was  late.  It  had  been  twice  de- 
layed when  on  the  point  of  sailing,  once  by  the 
death  of  Sir  John  P'opham,  the  leader  of  the 
Plymouth  Colony,  a  second  time  by  the  death  of 
Sir  John  Gilbert,  another  of  the  leading  partners. 


1 


A  model  of  the  Mayflower  which  shows  clearly  the  small  size  of  this  craft  and  suggests  how 
crowded  she  must  have  been  with  her  one  hundred  and  two  passengers. 


The   Mayflower  on   a   bleak   November  day  in   1620    entered  Provincetown  Harbor.       The 
exploration  amid  snow  and  ice  for  a  proper  site  for  the  settlement  then  began. 

THE  MAYFLOWER 


THE   DUNES   OF    PROVINCETOWN 

When  Standish  landed  from  the  Mayflower  the  bleakness  of  this  barren  and  low  lying 
land  appalled  him  and  two  expeditions  into  the  surrounding  country  convinced  him 
that  no  good  ground  for  settlement  could  there  be  found. 


PILGRIM    MEERSTEADS    ALONG    TOWN    BROOK 

The  first  homes  of  the  Pilgrims  were  built  along  the  south  side  of  Leyden  Street  and 
the  gardens  ran  down  to  Town  Brook.  This  view  shows  the  sloping  lay  of  the  land. 
In  this  more  pleasant  land  the  Pilgrims  found  their  homestead. 


ON  PLYMOUTH  SHORE  223 

This  was  sorry  news.  Captain  Gilbert — now  Sir 
Raleigh  Gilbert — was  compelled  to  go  to  England, 
and  this  left  the  colonists  without  any  leader.  One 
third  of  their  number  had  died.  None  of  the  rest 
wished  to  stay.  They  embarked  upon  the  supply 
ships,  waiting  only  long  enough  to  put  the  furs 
and  wood  on  board,  and  sailed  for  England. 

Thus  ended  the  northern  colony  upon  the  Saga- 
dahoc. 

Between  1608  and  1614  no  effort  was  made 
toward  recolonizing  this  section.  The  almost 
simultaneous  deaths  of  the  two  Pophams  and  Gil- 
bert robbed  the  Plymouth  Company  of  its  most 
ardent  leaders.  The  returning  Popham  colonists 
had  given  out  the  impression  that  the  coasts  of 
North  Virginia  were  so  cold  in  winter  as  to  be 
uninhabitable. 

Yet,  during  these  six  years,  the  Dutch  were 
pushing  up  the  Hudson  River  Valley,  and  the 
French  had  proved  in  Acadia  and  Canada  that 
settlements  even  further  to  the  north  could  be 
maintained  in  winter.  It  was  clear  to  the  Ply- 
mouth Company  that  unless  it  took  some  action, 
all  its  land  would  be  seized  by  foreigners. 

In  1614,  Captain  John  Smith  and  Captain 
Thomas  Hunt  were  sent  to  fish,  trade  for  furs  and 
explore  in  northern  Virginia.  Smith,  as  was  his 
nature,  gave  most  of  his  time  to  exploration.  He 
mapped  the  coasts  thoroughly,  and  on  his  map 
the  words  "New  England"  first  appear,  in  place 


of  " North  Virginia,"  "Norumbega"  or  " Can- 
ada." 

While  his  superior  was  away  exploring,  Cap- 
tain Hunt  took  his  smaller  vessel,  and  kidnaped 
twenty-four  Indians  on  Cape  Cod.  Setting  sail  at 
once,  before  Smith's  return,  he  carried  the  Indians 
to  Spain,  where  he  sold  all  but  one  of  them  as 
slaves  at  a  handsome  profit.  The  remaining  In- 
dian, Tisquantum  or  Squanto,  was  to  play  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  life  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers. 

On  Smith's  return,  he  was  asked  to  enter  the 
service  of  the  Plymouth  Company  as  "  Admiral  of 
New  England,"  his  pioneer  experience  being 
deemed  invaluable  for  the  selection  of  a  healthful 
and  sheltered  site  for  a  new  colony.  Two  ships 
were  equipped  and  he  set  sail  in  1615  with  a  num- 
ber of  laborers  and  artisans  aboard.  A  site  was 
to  be  chosen,  a  fort  built,  and  it  was  left  to  Smith 's 
judgment  whether  a  garrison  should  be  left  or  not. 

Adventure,  however,  had  marked  Captain  John 
Smith  for  her  own.  His  vessel  was  attacked  and 
captured  by  the  French.  For  many  months 
Smith  remained  on  board  the  enemy's  vessel  an 
honored  prisoner,  but  still  a  prisoner.  He  was 
finally  set  free  at  Eochelle,  and,  though  penniless, 
made  his  way  back  to  England. 

The  other  vessel  of  the  expedition,  under  Cap- 
tain Dormer,  made  her  way  successfully  to  New 
England.  But  Dormer  was  a  sailor,  not  a  pioneer. 
Considering  himself  unfitted  for  the  important 
task  of  deciding  on  a  proper  site  for  a  colony,  he 


ON  PLYMOUTH  SHORE  225 

waited  until  the  autumn  in  the  hope  of  Smith's 
reappearance,  and  then  sailed  for  England  with 
a  cargo  of  furs. 

The  following  year  was  marked  by  the  sale  of 
Rolfe's  Virginia  tobacco  crop  at  a  high  price. 
The  Plymouth  Company  remembered  that  Way- 
mouth  and  other  explorers  of  Northern  Virginia 
had  reported  Indian  tobacco  fields  in  Maine.  Sir 
Fernando  Gorges,  the  new  head  of  the  Plymouth 
Company,  sought  a  new  charter,  but  he  was  at- 
tacked tooth  and  nail  by  the  Virginia  Company, 
which  wanted  to  keep  tobacco  as  a  monopoly. 
Gorges  sent  out  trading  vessels  which  were  little 
better  than  pirates  and  raided  the  ships  and  posts 
of  Virginia. 

In  1617  the  ships  secretly  sent  out  by  Gorges 
brought  back  strange  news.  A  terrible  pestilence 
had  raged  up  and  down  the  coasts  of  New  Eng- 
land, slaying  the  Indians  Ijy  hundreds.  In  the 
words  of  one  captain  "the  coasts  were  void  of  in- 
habitants. ' '  Traders  confirmed  this  news  the  year 
following.  The  time  seemed  ripe  for  New  Eng- 
land colonization.  In  the  spring  of  1620  a  char- 
ter was  secured  for  the  Council  of  New  England, 
the  name  being  taken  from  John  Smith's  map. 

This  charter  was  even  more  disregardf  ul  of  the 
rights  of  others  than  even  the  famous  charter  of 
1606.  It  bestowed  on  the  Council  of  New  Eng- 
land all  the  territory  from  40°  to  48°,  or  from 
Philadelphia  to  Newfoundland,  and  extended  from 
sea  to  sea.  It  included  the  Dutch  settlements  on 


226       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

the  Delaware  and  the  Hudson,  French  Acadia, 
and  even  that  definitely  settled  French  territory 
on  the  St.  Lawrence  of  which  Quebec  was  the 
key. 

By  no  conceivable  argument  could  James  I  have 
justified  his  grant  under  "the  divine  right  of 
kings."  He  did  not  try  to  do  so.  Speaking  for 
the  King,  Sir  George  Calvert,  Secretary  of  State, 
claimed  that  all  this  territory  belonged  to  England 
by  right  of  conquest,  the  conqueror  in  the  case 
being  Sir  Samuel  Argall,  who  had  demolished  the 
French  settlements  on  Mt.  Desert  and  in  Acadia 
and  who  had  compelled  the  Dutch  on  the  Hudson 
to  run  up  an  English  flag. 

Years  of  argument  followed,  years  which  gave 
to  New  England  the  time  to  develop  in  a  man- 
ner wholly  different  from  that  which  had  been  in- 
tended by  the  royal  grant.  The  Council  for  New 
England  was  limited  to  forty  members.  It  would 
have  thriven  from  the  start  but  for  the  fact  that 
the  Virginia  Company  was  its  open  foe.  Capital 
was  held  back  from  the  investment,  since,  by  a 
change  in  politics,  the  grant  might  be  forfeited. 

This  handicap  led  the  Council  of  New  Eng- 
land to  reimburse  itself  for  the  steady  drain  on 
its  resources  by  selling  patents  of  land.  It  was 
none  too  scrupulous  in  taking  money  for  lands 
which  had  already  been  given  to  some  one  else,  a 
matter  all  the  easier  in  view  of  the  confusion  of 
New  England  geography.  Its  main  desire  was  to 
get  settlers  on  the  land,  and  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 


ON  PLYMOUTH  SHORE  227 

bid  fair  to  be  good  colonists.  All  this  lends  color 
to  the  story  that  Weston,  acting  secretly  for  the 
Council  of  New  England,  was  behind  the  follow- 
ing extraordinary  series  of  events  which  attended 
the  sailing  of  the  Mayflower. 

By  a  curious  succession  of  accidents,  in  which 
the  actions  of  the  captain  of  the  Speedwell  play 
a  part,  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  were  delayed  in  start- 
ing. The  year  was  far  advanced  when  they  left 
England  and  the  little  Mayflower  ran  into  the  se- 
vere autumnal  gales.  There  was  much  sickness 
on  the  ship.  One  of  the  colonists  died,  but  his 
place  on  the  list  of  102  was  taken  by  a  baby  boy, 
born  on  the  voyage,  and  christened  "Oceanus" 
Hopkins. 

The  patent  which  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  held 
through  the  Merchant  Adventurers  gave  them  land 
in  the  domain  of  the  London  Company,  which  con- 
trolled Virginia.  Yet  the  Mayflower  was  navi- 
gated steadily  to  the  north.  On  November  9, 1620, 
the  Pilgrims  caught  sight  of  land,  and,  whether  by 
accident  or  design,  found  themselves  two  days 
later  amid  the  dangerous  shoals  and  tide-rips 
between  Cape  Cod  and  Nantucket  Island. 

How  did  it  happen  that  they  were  there  ?  Why 
did  they  strike  the  coast  of  Massachusetts  when 
supposed  to  be  heading  for  Chesapeake  Bay?  It 
is  difficult  to  believe  that  Captain  Jones  of  the 
Mayflower  could  be  so  incredibly  poor  a  navigator 
and  so  execrably  bad  a  sailor  as  to  be  500  miles 
out  of  his  reckoning.  Such  an  excuse  is  all  the 


228       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

more  unlikely  when  it  is  remembered  that,  time 
after  time,  English  vessels  separated  by  storm 
had  met  at  some  exact  rendezvous,  only  a  few 
hours'  difference  between  them. 

There  is  strong  suspicion  that  Captain  Jones 
had  made  a  secret  arrangement  with  Weston,  who, 
in  turn,  was  acting  privately  for  the  Council  of 
New  England.  The  suspicion  becomes  all  the 
stronger  when  it  is  noted  that  the  Mayflower,  try- 
ing to  escape  the  shoals,  sailed  north  instead  of 
south,  turned  that  great  hook  of  land  which  is 
now  known  as  Cape  Cod,  and  ran  into  the  shel- 
tered stretch  of  water  now  known  as  Province- 
town  Harbor.  There,  on  November  12,  1620  (No- 
vember 22,  New  Style)  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
landed,  and  there  their  American  history  was 
begun. 

One  sight  of  that  naked  and  wind-whipped  shore 
of  Cape  Cod,  seen  at  its  worst  in  a  bleak  Novem- 
ber wind,  convinced  the  colonists  that  this  was 
no  haven  of  refuge,  no  mild  tobacco-growing  re- 
gion such  as  they  had  planned  to  inhabit.  They 
turned  upon  Captain  Jones  and  bade  him  bring 
them  to  the  port  whither  they  were  bound,  to  the 
land  for  which  they  had  a  grant. 

The  captain  refused  bluntly.  He  declared  that 
the  provisions  were  not  sufficient,  that  his  ship 
had  been  too  much  battered  by  the  bad  weather, 
and  refused  to  take  the  responsibility  of  setting 
out  to  sea  with  a  shipload  of  passengers,  many 
of  them  women  and  more  of  them  sick,  in  the 


ON  PLYMOUTH  SHORE  229 

dead  of  winter.  Such  a  reply  suggests  inevitably 
that  Jones  knew  very  well  what  he  was  doing,  and 
never  intended  to  take  the  Mayflower  to  Virginia 
at  all. 

It  was  a  desperate  situation  for  the  Pilgrims. 
There  they  were,  on  a  solitary  and  barren  coast, 
hundreds  of  miles  from  any  other  white  men,  with 
no  charter  from  the  King,  no  patent  for  the  re- 
gion in  which  they  found  themselves,  burdened 
with  debt,  pledged  in  advance  to  seven  years '  labor 
for  others,  short  of  food,  harassed  by  a  ship-cap- 
tain who  refused  to  take  them  to  their  proper 
port,  and  with  a  cold  sleet  falling — direful  proph- 
ecy of  the  coming  winter.  None  of  the  men  had 
pioneer  experience,  29  of  the  102  colonists  were 
women  or  girls. 

As  soon  as  it  became  evident  that  they  must 
stay  in  the  region  whither  they  had  come,  the 
colonists  drew  up  a  solemn  Compact  which  formed 
them  into  a  civil  body  politic.  Forty-one  settlers 
signed.  It  was  not  precisely  a  constitution,  but 
it  had  the  force  of  one.  John  Carver  was  con- 
firmed as  Governor.  The  obligation  to  the  Mer- 
chant Adventurers  was  repeated.  Nowhere  did  the 
Compact  suggest  the  intention  of  founding  a  sepa- 
rate state.  Allegiance  to  the  Crown  of  England 
was  asserted  and  the  law  of  the  colony  was  to  be 
English  law.  It  was  provided  that  the  Compact 
should  be  binding  only  until  the  King's  pleasure 
be  known. 

The  Mayflower  had  sighted  land  November  9, 


230       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

1620  ( Old  Style ) .  The  fir st  landing  had  been  made 
on  the  shores  of  Provincetown  Harbor,  Cape  Cod, 
on  November  12.  Since  Captain  Jones  would  not 
take  them  to  Virginia,  there  was  no  time  to  lose 
in  finding  winter  quarters. 

Captain  Miles  Standish  at  once  brought  to- 
gether the  little  band  of  soldiers  he  had  drilled 
on  board  ship  and  set  out  to  explore  Cape  Cod 
peninsula.  Its  bleakness  appalled  him.  On  that 
barren  and  low-lying  land  there  was  no  shelter 
from  the  icy  blast.  He  found  no  river  of  conse- 
quence, nor  any  fertile  fields.  Two  expeditions 
brought  nothing  but  discouragement. 

The  weeks  of  this  search  passed  miserably  on 
board  the  Mayflower.  The  Leyden  colonists — the 
original  Pilgrim  Fathers — held  together,  the  Lon- 
don and  Plymouth  colonists  complained  bitterly 
because  they  had  been  brought  to  this  northern 
shore  instead  of  to  Virginia.  Carver,  Brewster 
and  Standish,  however,  formed  a  trio  of  strong 
men,  well  able  to  keep  order,  and  disaffection 
never  proceeded  any  further  than  grumbling. 

On  December  6,  Captain  Standish  set  out  by 
boat  on  a  third  expedition.  He  had  a  brush  with 
the  Nauset  Indians  the  next  day,  and,  on  De- 
cember 8,  found  himself  off  the  high  land  of  Mano- 
met  Point.  This  gave  hope  of  shelter  under  the 
lee  of  the  headland,  for  the  weather  was  terribly 
cold,  the  spray  freezing  on  oars  and  sails.  The 
wind  was  rising  and  the  sea  growing  rough. 

Standish  pressed  on,  despite  the  warnings  of 


ON  PLYMOUTH  SHORE  231 

the  sailors,  for  he  was  steering  for  Plymouth  Har- 
bor, as  marked  on  Captain  John  Smith's  map,  and 
was  sure  that  the  haven  could  not  be  far  away. 
Off  Rocky  Point,  a  heavy  squall  struck  the  boat, 
dismasting  her.  The  men  took  to  their  oars,  and, 
a  strong  tide  aiding  them,  they  were  swept  into 
Plymouth  Harbor  and  anchored  in  the  lee  of 
Clark 's  Island.  Next  day  they  repaired  the  dam- 
ages to  their  boat,  and  the  day  following,  being 
Sunday,  they  rested. 

Early  on  Monday  (December  11,  1620,  Old 
Style ;  December  21,  New  Style)  they  made  for  the 
shore.  Sounding  as  they  went,  they  found  good 
harborage  for  the  small  vessels  of  that  time.  Run- 
ning down  a  little  distance  into  the  harbor,  they 
prepared  to  land. 

This  date  (usually  misplaced  at  December  22) 
was  the  first  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  in  Plymouth 
Harbor.  The  place  was  not  at  Plymouth  Rock, 
but  more  to  the  north.  The  Mayflower  was  not  in 
the  offing,  but,  at  that  time,  anchored  in  Province- 
town  Bay.  The  landing  was  confined  to  Captain 
Miles  Standish  and  the  few  members  of  his  search 
party. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  the  judgment  of 
Captain  John  Smith,  the  great  Virginia  pioneer, 
proved  sound.  Plymouth  Harbor  was,  as  Stand- 
ish affirmed,  "an  excellent  situation"  for  a  colony. 
The  Pilgrims  found  cornfields  which  had  been 
abandoned  by  the  Indians  since  the  great  epidemic, 
and  a  good  stream  of  fresh  water  ran  near  by. 


232       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Standish  returned  to  the  ship  with  the  good 
news.  On  December  16  (Old  Style),  the  May- 
flower sailed  across  the  bay  and  dropped  her  an- 
chor in  Plymouth  Harbor.  On  December  19  the 
site  for  the  fort  was  chosen  (where  the  town  of 
Plymouth  now  stands)  and  on  December  25,  the 
first  building  was  begun.  The  settlement  was 
christened  New  Plymouth,  after  the  last  town  the 
Pilgrims  had  touched  in  England  and  also  from 
the  name  on  Smith's  map. 

January  was  wet  and  stormy.  Building  prog- 
ress was  slow.  Indians  were  seen  lurking  in  the 
woods.  A  high  platform  was  built  on  which  some 
cannon  were  mounted,  for  Standish  had  found  the 
Nauset  natives  unfriendly.  There  was  cause  for 
this,  since  the  Indians  kidnaped  by  Captain  Hunt, 
six  years  before,  belonged  to  this  tribe. 

Sickness  soon  set  in.  Scurvy — that  invariable 
plague  of  communities  living  on  dried  or  preserved 
foods — broke  out  at  once.  Exposure  claimed  so 
many  victims  that,  at  one  time,  Brewster,  Standish 
and  four  other  of  the  sturdiest  men  alone  were 
able  to  keep  on  their  feet  and  to  bury  the  dead. 
The  Mayflower  was  turned  into  a  hospital.  By 
spring,  53  of  the  102  colonists  had  died.  The 
women  suffered  severely.  Of  the  18  wives  who  had 
landed  near  Plymouth  Rock  at  Christmas,  only 
4  were  alive  in  March. 

Then  came  a  glint  of  hope ! 

An  Indian  came  boldly  into  the  camp,  and  to 


ON  PLYMOUTH  SHORE  233 

the  amazement  of  the  Pilgrims,  uttered  the  Eng- 
lish word — 

"Welcome!" 

He  gave  his  name  as  Samoset,  and  stated  that 
he  came  from  the  island  of  Monhegan  off  the 
coast  of  Maine.  He  had  picked  up  a  few  Eng- 
lish words  from  the  traders  and  fishermen.  More- 
over, he  had  learned  from  the  secret  agents  of  Sir 
Fernando  Gorges  that  wherever  white  men  were, 
there  was  an  opportunity  to  trade  furs.  More 
striking  still,  he  declared  that  he  could  bring  to 
the  camp  another  Indian,  who  spoke  English 
fluently. 

A  few  days  later,  he  reappeared  with  a  com- 
rade. This  proved  to  be  Squanto,  who  had  been 
kidnaped  by  Hunt,  and  who,  alone,  had  not  been 
sold  into  slavery,  but  had  been  taken  to  Eng- 
land. In  1620  he  had  been  restored  to  his  own 
country  in  one  of  Gorges '  ships. 

Squanto  proved  friendly  and  undertook  to  ar- 
range an  alliance.  He  was  as  good  as  his  word. 
After  an  exchange  of  gifts,  Chief  Massasoit  of 
the  Wampanoag  tribe  came  to  the  camp  with  a 
number  of  his  braves.  He  agreed  to  trade  exclu- 
sively at  Plymouth  on  condition  that  the  Pilgrims 
agree  to  help  him  against  his  tribal  enemies. 
Squanto  also  arranged  an  alliance  with  the  Po- 
kanoket  Indians,  to  the  south.  These  treaties, 
which  insured  a  fur  trade  monopoly,  were  one  of 
the  principal  causes  of  the  prosperity  of  the  Plym- 
outh Colony. 


234.       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

In  spite  of  the  aid  of  Squanto,  who  showed  them 
how  to  till  roughly  prepared  land,  who  purchased 
seed-corn  for  them,  who  tried  to  teach  the  white 
men  how  to  trap,  and  fish,  hunger  dogged  them 
steadily.  Yet  the  seas  off  their  coasts  were  the 
greatest  fishing  grounds  in  the  world,  the  shores 
were  covered  with  shell-fish,  the  rivers  alive  with 
eels.  Owing  to  the  Indian  depopulation,  the  woods 
were  full  of  game.  But  the  Pilgrims  were  farm- 
ers or  artisans.  Not  one  of  them  had  ever  shot 
an  animal  or  caught  a  fish  in  the  sea.  They 
starved  in  the  midst  of  plenty.  But  for  Squanto, 
few  would  have  lived  to  harvest  the  crop. 

To  make  matters  worse,  the  colony  had  started 
on  a  communistic  basis.  This  brought  disaster 
in  New  England  as  quickly  is  it  had  in  Virginia. 
The  younger  men  saw  the  products  of  their  labor 
benefiting  other  men's  families,  the  industrious 
bore  the  burdens  of  the  lazy,  the  able  men  ranked 
no  better  than  the  mean  and  ignorant,  and  the 
women  resented  being  turned  into  slaves  for  the 
community,  washing  and  cooking  not  only  for 
their  own  husbands  but  for  all  the  men  of  the 
place. 

As  in  all  communistic  states,  where  personal 
incentive  is  low,  the  output  of  work  was  small. 
The  Pilgrims  were  picked  men,  they  were  used 
to  toil,  they  were  united  by  their  faith,  they  were 
well  led  and  governed,  they  had  the  supreme  good 
fortune  of  finding  land  already  cleared  for  plant- 
ing, they  had  Squanto  to  teach  them  frontier  ways, 


ON  PLYMOUTH  SHORE  235 

yet  they  could  not  grow  food  enough  to  feed  them- 
selves. When,  two  years  later,  communism  was 
abandoned,  the  food  situation  changed  as  if  by 
magic.  On  the  very  first  summer  after  its  aboli- 
tion, the  colony  not  only  had  grain  enough  to  eat, 
but  plenty  to  store  and  to  sell. 

Governor  Carver  died  during  the  summer,  be- 
ing succeeded  by  William  Bradford.  In  the  au- 
tumn a  ship  arrived  bringing  35  new  settlers,  but 
little  food.  The  ship  was  loaded  with  beaver- 
skins  and  hurried  away,  with  an  urgent  request 
to  the  Merchant  Adventurers  for  supplies.  The 
vessel,  however,  was  captured  by  a  French  cruiser, 
its  cargo  confiscated  and  its  return  delayed. 

An  incident  occurred  in  the  winter  which  well 
illustrates  the  Pilgrim  spirit.  On  Christmas 
morning,  1621,  Governor  Bradford  summoned  the 
workers  as  usual,  and  prepared  to  begin  the  day's 
labor.  Some  of  the  new  arrivals  refused  on  the 
ground  that  Christmas  was  a  holy  day.  This  was 
in  flat  opposition  to  the  religious  principles  of  the 
colony,  which  regarded  all  church  festivals — ex- 
cept Sunday — as  ''popish." 

Bradford,  as  a  stickler  for  the  rights  of  con- 
science, did  not  force  the  men  to  work.  On  his 
return  at  noon,  however,  he  found  them  playing 
at  bowls.  The  Governor  promptly  took  the  balls 
away,  saying  sternly  that  his  conscience  would 
not  permit  him  to  allow  those  who  deemed  Christ- 
mas a  holy  day  to  desecrate  it  by  games.  Most 
of  the  men  went  to  work  that  afternoon. 


236       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

The  incident  is  of  importance  as  illustrating 
the  difference  between  the  Pilgrim  spirit  and  the 
Puritan  spirit,  as  the  latter  developed  a  few  years 
later.  Bradford  censured  the  bowl-players  be- 
cause they  were  not  true  to  their  own  principles, 
the  Puritans  dealt  harshly  with  people  who  dis- 
agreed with  the  principles  of  Puritanism.  The 
Pilgrims  admitted  the  right  of  religious  liberty, 
the  Puritans  denied  it. 

A  second  incident  shows  the  Pilgrim  manner 
of  dealing  with  Indians.  They  paid  the  lowest 
possible  prices  for  furs,  but  they  always  paid  and 
they  dealt  fairly.  When  Massasoit  fell  ill,  one 
of  the  Pilgrims  went  to  his  hut  and  nursed  him 
back  to  health.  The  treaties  of  alliance  were 
honestly  kept.  Yet,  when  the  chief  of  the  Nar- 
ragansett  Indians  sent  to  Plymouth  a  bundle  of 
arrows  tied  together  with  a  snake-skin  as  a  declar- 
ation of  war,  Bradford  showed  no  fear.  He  filled 
the  skin  with  powder  and  bullets  and  sent  it  back 
with  a  sharp  message  of  defiance.  The  Narra- 
gansetts  regarded  the  returned  skin  with  super- 
stitious fear,  and,  deeming  it  "bad  medicine," 
let  the  white  men  alone. 

Though  the  Pilgrims  were  on  half  rations  all 
that  winter,  they  were  beginning  to  learn  how 
take  care  of  themselves.  Substantial  houses  had 
been  built.  Piles  of  firewood  had  been  cut  for 
fuel.  The  crisp  weather  of  New  England  stimu- 
lated energy,  and  the  Indians  had  taught  them 
how  to  cure  scurvy.  When  the  spring  of  1622  ar- 


ON  PLYMOUTH  SHORE  237 

rived,  a  sturdy  lot  of  New  Englanders  were  ready 
to  push  onward  vigorously. 

In  May,  1622,  Thomas  Weston,  the  double- 
dealer,  came  again  on  the  scene.  Presumably  as  a 
reward  for  his  trickery  in  regard  to  the  Pilgrims, 
the  Council  of  New  England  had  granted  him  a 
patent  for  some  land  north  of  the  Plymouth  Colony 
and  including  the  southern  portion  of  what  now  is 
Boston  Harbor.  He  brought  67  colonists  "and 
not  a  bite  of  bread." 

Weston 's  colonists  were  not  Pilgrims.  Far 
from  it.  Bradford  called  them  "loose  and  godless 
fellows."  The  description  was  not  far  wrong. 
They  lived  on  the  charity  of  the  Pilgrims  all  sum- 
mer, stole  a  large  part  of  the  green  corn  in  the 
early  autumn  and  then  moved  north  to  their  own 
holding,  settling  at  Wessagusset  (Weymouth),  on 
Boston  Harbor. 

Their  conduct  in  their  new  home  was  not  edify- 
ing. They  begged  from  the  Indians,  they  stole 
from  the  Indians,  they  maltreated  the  Indians, 
and,  since  there  was  not  a  woman  among  them, 
"they  took  unto  themselves  wives  of  the  heathen." 
The  neighboring  tribes  decided  to  massacre  all 
the  whites  at  Wessagusset.  They  would  have 
done  so,  without  question,  had  they  not  also  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  arousing  the  Pokanokets  and 
the  Wampanoags  to  massacre  the  Pilgrims  simul- 
taneously, and  thus  sweep  every  white  man  from 
the  shore. 

The  honesty  of  the  Pilgrims  now  reaped  its  re- 


238       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

ward.  The  friendly  tribes  refused,  and  warned 
their  allies  at  Plymouth.  Although  the  Weston 
colonists  had  robbed  the  Pilgrims  and  misbe- 
haved atrociously,  still  they  were  Englishmen.  In 
March,  1623,  Standish  and  a  party  of  soldiers  were 
sent  to  Wessagusset.  He  found  the  settlement  in 
a  deplorable  state.  The  so-called  "fort"  was  a 
mere  huddle  of  timbers.  The  colonists  were  scat- 
tered in  every  direction,  half  of  them  living  with 
the  Indians. 

Standish  wasted  little  time.  The  men  were 
brought  back  to  Wessagusset — by  the  scruffs  of 
their  necks,  if  they  would  come  no  other  way — 
and  the  settlement  was  organized  for  defense. 
Then  he  whirled  upon  the  Indians  with  such  speed 
and  power  that  the  tribes  were  terrorized.  He 
avoided  bloodshed  as  much  as  possible,  prefer- 
ring to  frighten  than  to  kill.  At  the  cost  of  not 
more  than  a  score  of  Indians  slain,  he  convinced 
the  tribes  that  it  was  perilous  to  meddle  with  the 
War  Chief  of  the  Whites. 

Weston 's  men  were  brought  back  to  Plymouth 
and  thence  sent  home.  Weston  arrived  a  few 
weeks  later  and  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  In- 
dians. The  tribes  were  too  much  afraid  of  Stand- 
ish to  dare  to  keep  their  prisoner.  He  was  re- 
leased and  taken  to  Plymouth,  whence  the  Pil- 
grims shipped  him  to  England  by  the  first  boat. 

That  spring  of  1623,  fearing  the  results  of  an- 
other summer  of  communism,  Bradford  threw 
the  Merchant  Adventurers'  agreement  to  the 


THE   PILGRIM 


This  fine  statue  by  Augustus  Saint-Gaudens  well  expresses  the  rugged  strength,  the 
fearless  self-reliance  of  that  small  body  of  men  whose  honesty  of  purpose  and  righteous 
endeavor  laid  such  an  enduring  foundation  for  the  future  American  Commonwealth. 


Plan  of  St,  George's  Fi 


ST.    GEORGE  S   FORT    ON   THE    KENNEBEC    RIVER 

This  map  was  sent  to  King  Philip  III  of  Spain  by  his  Ambassador  in  London  in  1609 
to  further  the  military  purpose  of  the  Spaniards  to  drive  the  English  from  the  American 
continent. 


ON  PLYMOUTH  SHORE  239 

winds.  He  assigned  to  every  family  a  grant  of 
land.  This  changed  everything.  Each  man  knew 
that  if  he  hungered  during  the  following  winter, 
it  would  be  his  own  fault.  The  settlers  worked 
willingly,  even  the  women  and  children  helping. 
Some  of  the  more  industrious  worked  for  pay  on 
the  land  of  others,  after  their  own  work  was  done. 
Property  rights  had  been  established.  The  har- 
vest was  so  good  that,  as  Bradford  was  able  to 
write  many  years  after:  "Any  general  want  or 
famine  hath  not  been  known  amongst  them  since, 
to  this  very  day." 

In  July,  1623,  before  this  harvest  was  ripe,  two 
vessels  came,  bringing  sixty  more  settlers  to  the 
colony  and  but  little  food.  Many  of  these  were 
the  wives  and  children  of  the  settlers,  twenty  of 
them  had  come  from  Leyden. 

For  the  newcomers  it  was  but  a  sorry  meeting. 
Most  of  the  Plymouth  settlers  were  half  naked. 
The  storehouses  were  empty,  so  that  "  there  was 
nought  to  offer  these  faithful  ones  but  a  lobster 
or  a  piece  of  fish  without  bread,  and  a  cup  of  fair 
spring  water  to  wash  it  down."  This  poverty 
ceased  when  the  new  crop  was  harvested,  six  weeks 
later. 

The  Council  for  New  England  was  still  hand- 
ing out  patents  recklessly.  In  June,  1623,  a  new 
division  was  made  under  Twenty  Patentees,  the 
territory  bestowed  running  from  the  Bay  of  Fundy 
to  Narragansett  Bay. 

Robert  Gorges  and  Rev.  Thomas  Morell — an 


240       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

Anglican  clergyman  who  had  been  appointed  ' '  Re- 
ligious Superintendent  of  New  England" — ar- 
rived with  a  party  of  settlers  and  occupied 
Weston's  abandoned  huts  at  Wessagusset.  Wes- 
ton  arrived  on  the  scene  a  month  later  and  the 
two  leaders  quarreled  all  winter.  Morell's  pres- 
sure forebode  trouble. 

The  Council  was  entirely  within  its  power  in 
putting  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Church  of  England,  the  very  thing  for 
which  they  had  fled  from  Scrooby,  sixteen  years 
before. 

Moreover,  a  great  deal  of  trouble  had  been  made 
in  England  over  the  " heretical  conditions"  at 
Plymouth.  The  Virginia  Company,  always  hos- 
tile to  New  England,  had  done  much  to  fan  this 
flame  of  criticism.  In  answer  to  this,  the  men  sent 
out  by  the  Council  of  New  England  were  as  far  re- 
moved from  Separatism  as  possible,  and  Thomas 
Morton — whose  amazing  story  is  to  be  told  later 
— was  sent  in  1622  to  establish  a  thoroughly  royal- 
ist and  Church  settlement  on  Boston  Harbor. 
There  were  thus  three  Church  settlements  in  1623, 
those  of  Weston,  Morton  and  Gorges.  There  was 
also  a  group  of  Church  of  England  men  in  Plym- 
outh. Religious  strife  might  easily  have  been  be- 
gun but  that  Morell  never  had  the  time  to  exer- 
cise his  authority. 

In  March,  1624,  a  Parliamentary  committee,  un- 
der the  urging  of  the  Virginia  Company,  declared 
the  charter  of  the  Council  of  New  England  to  be 


ON  PLYMOUTH  SHORE  241 

"a  national  grievance."  No  further  action  was 
taken,  but  the  decision  frightened  many  of  the 
Thirty  Patentees,  who  withdrew.  Gorges  re- 
turned to  England.  Morell  went  to  Virginia. 
Only  a  handful  of  men  were  left  at  Wessagus- 
set,  some  belonging  to  "Weston  's  colony,  others  to 
that  of  Gorges.  Morton  and  his  few  followers  re- 
mained. 

In  January  of  that  same  year,  Edward  Win- 
slow,  one  of  the  Pilgrim  leaders,  who  had  been 
buying  cattle  for  the  colony  in  England,  returned 
to  Plymouth.  He  brought  good  news.  He  had 
persuaded  Lord  Sheffield,  one  of  the  Thirty  Pat- 
entees, to  convey  the  region  around  Cape  Ann  to 
him,  on  behalf  of  the  Plymouth  colonists. 

The  same  vessel  brought  a  malcontent  into  the 
colony,  who  was  destined  to  bring  trouble.  This 
was  Rev.  John  Lyford,  a  clergyman  of  dubious 
reputation.  On  arriving  at  Plymouth  he  denied 
his  Church,  embraced  Separatism,  and,  for  a 
while,  was  minister  of  the  Plymouth  Church. 
This  did  not  last  long.  He  was  found  to  be 
secretly  holding  Church  of  England  services,  and 
also  sending  reports  of  "heresy"  to  the  Council 
in  England.  Later,  Bradford  banished  him  from 
Plymouth. 

When  spring  came,  the  Pilgrims  proceeded  to 
make  use  of  their  new  grant  at  Cape  Ann,  which 
was  primarily  a  fishing  base.  But,  when  a  party 
from  Plymouth  arrived  there,  they  found  34  set- 
tlers established  already.  These  belonged  to  an 


242       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

entirely  independent  venture,  having  been  sent 
thither  in  1623  by  some  Dorchester  merchants 
who  had  maintained  a  fishing  fleet  in  American 
waters  for  several  years. 

During  the  summer  of  1624,  the  Plymouth  men 
and  the  Dorchester  men  agreed  well  enough  to- 
gether. Each  party  built  a  fishing  stage,  and 
there  was  fish  enough  for  all.  Trouble  began  in 
1625  when  the  Dorchester  men,  learning  of  Ly- 
ford's  banishment,  invited  him  to  become  their 
minister.  They  did  more.  They  appointed  one 
of  his  associates,  Roger  Conant,  to  become  man- 
ager of  the  settlement,  and  another,  John  Oldham, 
to  be  their  Indian  agent. 

The  Plymouth  men  deemed  this  an  unfriendly 
act  and  the  quarrel  rose  to  the  point  of  blows. 
The  Dorchester  men  seized  the  Pilgrims'  landing 
stage.  Standish  was  sent  to  punish  the  offenders, 
who,  though  they  were  the  prior  occupants,  had 
no  patent.  Conant  intervened,  reminded  the  men 
of  Plymouth  that  they  had  no  grant  for  their 
territory,  and  arbitrated  the  matter. 

The  year  following,  a  renewal  of  the  war  with 
Spain  stopped  the  overseas  fishing  industry.  The 
Dorchester  men  returned  to  England,  and  the 
Plymouth  colony  sent  no  more  fishing  parties; 
Lyford  went  to  Virginia.  Only  Conant  and  three 
companions  remained  at  Cape  Ann. 

The  next  settlement  in  New  England  was  also 
of  royalist  and  Church  character.  In  1625,  Cap- 
tain Wollaston  arrived  with  a  ship-load  of  set- 


ON  PLYMOUTH  SHORE  243 

tiers  to  take  up  that  part  of  Boston  Harbor  lying 
between  Weston's  grant  and  Gorges'  grant.  Wol- 
laston's  ideas  differed  from  those  of  his  predeces- 
sors. He  brought  a  number  of  indentured  "serv- 
ants," intending  to  establish  a  tobacco  plantation 
along  the  lines  of  those  in  Virginia.  He  soon  saw 
that  the  climate  was  unfavorable  for  such  a 
plan,  and  sailed  to  Virginia  with  his  " servants," 
intending  either  to  settle  or  to  sell  them  there. 
He  left  a  few  men  behind  to  hold  Mt.  Wollaston. 

The  Plymouth  Colony  was  now  becoming  strong 
enough  to  stand  on  its  own  feet.  The  fur  trade 
had  prospered.  The  small  farms  were  well 
stocked.  The  town  of  Plymouth  had  taken  on 
the  character  of  permanence. 

There  was  but  one  source  of  trouble;  this  was 
the  relation  between  the  Pilgrims  and  the  Mer- 
chant Adventurers.  The  seven  years  of  the  origi- 
nal contract  had  come  to  an  end  and  the  Mer- 
chant Adventurers  truly  asserted  that  the  Plym- 
outh Colony  had  not  lived  up  to  its  agreement. 
It  was  thousands  of  pounds  in  debt. 

Accordingly,  eight  of  the  leaders  of  the  Pil- 
grims— Bradford,  Brewster,  Standish,  Allerton, 
Winslow,  Howland,  Alden  and  Prince — undertook 
to  pay  the  Merchant  Adventurers  the  sum  of 
£1800,  which  figure  was  reached  by  a  compromise. 
The  money  was  to  be  paid  in  nine  annual  install- 
ments of  £200  apiece.  On  this  condition  they  were 
freed  from  all  obligations  arising  from  the  old 
contract.  Thus,  in  1627,  the  Pilgrims  became  their 


244       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

own  masters,  save  that  they  possessd  neither  pat- 
ent nor  charter. 

The  years  1629  and  1630  were  marked  by  the 
arrival  of  a  number  of  Pilgrims  from  Leyden. 
They  were  greeted  with  great  rejoicing,  for,  in 
spite  of  every  effort,  Plymouth  was  becoming 
populated  with  settlers  who  were  not  Separatists. 
It  is  greatly  to  the  credit  of  Bradford  and  his  asso- 
ciates that  there  was  no  active  persecution  of 
these.  Robinson,  the  great  Pilgrim  leader,  who 
had  been  their  head  in  Holland,  never  saw 
America.  He  died  in  1626,  content  to  know  that 
his  followers  were  solidly  established  in  the  New 
World. 

On  January  13,  1630,  the  dearest  dream  of  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  was  realized.  On  that  date,  the 
Council  for  New  England  granted  a  patent  to 
Bradford  and  his  associates,  the  territory  extend- 
ing from  the  Cohasset  to  the  Narragansett  Rivers 
and  westwards  "to  the  utmost  bounds  of  a  coun- 
try or  place  in  New  England,  commonly  called 
Pokenacutt  or  Sowamsett."  In  1641,  William 
Bradford  deeded  this  grant  to  the  Corporation 
of  New  Plymouth. 

It  is  not  always  realized  how  small  was  the 
Plymouth  Colony  prior  to  the  Puritan  migration. 
In  1620  there  were  102  settlers;  in  1625,  180  set- 
tlers; in  1630,  only  300.  Owing  to  the  smallness 
of  the  numbers  and  to  the  wisdom  of  constantly 
reelecting  Bradford  as  governor,  Plymouth  be- 
came wealthy. 


ON  PLYMOUTH  SHORE  245 

The  system  of  government  was  partly  Dutch 
and  partly  English.  There  was  a  primary 
assembly  of  " freemen"  which  passed  all  the  laws 
and  elected  the  officers  of  the  colony.  A  "free- 
man" had  to  be  named  by  the  assembly,  as  such, 
and  was  always  a  member  of  the  Separatist  con- 
gregation. The  suffrage  was  highly  restricted. 
A  "freeman"  was  always  a  man  of  wealth,  in 
other  words,  a  burgher.  The  burgher  class  ruled 
and.chose  its  own  governor.  The  other  people  had 
no  voice  in  the  affairs  of  the  colony.  Plymouth 
was  not  a  democracy  and  was  not  designed  to  be. 

At  no  point  does  the  Pilgrim  town  stand  out 
so  differently  from  the  Puritan  town  as  in  its  re- 
lation of  Church  and  State.  The  Pilgrims  were 
notably  weak  in  religious  leaders,  though  all  their 
leaders  were  religious.  The  place  of  pastor  was 
kept  open  for  Robinson  for  seven  years.  After 
his  death,  a  half-witted  minister  named  Rogers 
came,  but  he  was  sent  back  the  year  following. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Ealph  Smith,  a  man  of  small 
importance,  whom  the  Pilgrims  endured  for  eight 
years. 

Nor  did  the  Pilgrims  shine  in  education.  Ply- 
mouth had  no  schools.  Had  Robinson  come,  he 
would  have  established  them,  but  Bradford  was 
mainly  interested  in  keeping  the  colony  alive,  and 
Brewster  feared  that  secular  teaching  savored 
too  much  of  worldliness.  There  was,  however,  a 
wholesome  and  sound  home  teaching. 

When  everything  is  considered,  little  but  praise 


246       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  can  be  said.  The  light 
of  their  righteous  living,  of  their  fairness,  of 
their  industry,  of  their  honesty,  of  their  rugged 
strength,  and  of  their  successful  endeavor  to  es- 
tablish a  self-governing  religious  community  in  a 
savage  country,  shines  as  a  beacon  at  the  opening 
of  New  England  history. 

No  American  with  a  feeling  for  his  country  can 
fail  to  remember  with  pride  and  tenderness  the 
worthy  deeds  and  noble  lives  of  Pilgrim  men  and 
Pilgrim  women  during  those  hard  years  upon  the 
Plymouth  shore. 


CHAPTER  XH 

THE  PUBITAN  FLOOD 

While  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  alike  fled  from 
England  because  of  their  dislike  of  royalism  and 
their  hate  for  the  Church  of  England,  the  two 
great  groups  of  ultra-Protestants  had  nothing 
else  in  common.  As  the  Puritan  exodus  was  from 
England,  was  composed  of  Englishmen,  and  had 
for  its  aim  the  establishment  of  English  liberties 
in  the  New  World,  it  is  all-important  to  know 
what  had  happened  in  England  to  force  this  Puri- 
tan migration. 

James  I  had  died  in  1625,  and  Charles  I  had 
come  to  the  throne.  Even  as  Prince  of  Wales,  he 
had  begun  badly.  His  attempted  marriage  to  a 
Spanish  princess  had  alienated  the  patriots  and 
angered  the  ultra-Protestants.  His  behavior  in 
Madrid — such  as  scaling  the  wall  of  the  Prin- 
cess '  garden — had  made  him  look  ridiculous.  That 
he  was  jilted  at  the  last  only  exposed  him  to 
greater  scorn. 

England  was  in  financial  difficulties.  James  I 
had  left  £700,000  of  debts.  Parliament  was  com- 
pelled to  reduce  the  royal  revenues,  which  be- 
came a  cause  of  strife  between  king  and  people. 

247 


248       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

England,  also,  was  divided  into  two  great  re- 
ligious parties,  Church  of  England  on  the  one 
hand,  Nonconformity  or  Puritanism  on  the  other. 
Church  and  King  stood  together,  Parliament  and 
Puritanism  were  linked.  The  royalists  regarded 
the  Puritans  as  traitors  to  the  English  Crown; 
the  Puritans  accused  the  royalists  as  traitors  to 
the  English  people. 

The  King  adopted  methods  of  raising  money 
which  Parliament  denounced  as  unconstitutional, 
and  many  obdurate  members  of  Parliament  were 
thrown  into  prison.  The  Puritans  adopted  meth- 
ods of  undermining  the  Church  of  England,  which 
the  Crown  denounced  as  treasonable,  and  threw 
the  leaders  into  prison. 

The  Puritans  attacked  the  Church  on  the 
grounds  of  intolerance;  the  Church  replied  with 
the  same  accusation.  In  point  of  fact,  neither  was 
tolerant.  Both  believed  in  a  compulsory  state  re- 
ligion, a  point  of  vital  importance  in  the  history 
of  American  Puritanism.  Both  believed  that 
whipping,  mutilation,  imprisonment  and  even 
death  should  be  the  punishment  of  those  who 
dared  to  disagree  with  their  opinions. 

King  and  Commons  faced  each  other  with  mu- 
tual distrust  and  dislike.  The  terrible  scenes  that 
were  enacted  in  the  Parliaments  of  1628  and  1629 
blasted  all  hopes  of  civil  peace  and  caused  the 
Puritan  migration  to  America.  Charles  I  finally 
sent  the  leading  Puritans  to  the  Tower  of  London, 


THE  PURITAN  FLOOD  249 

and,  for  eleven  years  thereafter,  no  Parliament 
sat  again  in  England. 

The  Puritans  turned  their  eyes  to  America,. 
They  had,  indeed,  a  small  colony  there — a  very 
small  colony,  for  it  consisted  of  only  four  men. 

When  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  received  a  grant  for 
Cape  Ann  and  sent  a  fishing  party  there,  they 
had  found  some  settlers  from  Dorchester  in  pos- 
session. These  were  Puritans.  When,  after 
trouble  with  the  Plymouth  Colony  and  after  the 
reopening  of  the  War  with  Spain,  the  Dorches- 
ter men  returned,  they  left  Roger  Conant  and 
three  men  behind.  As  the  exposed  situation  of 
Cape  Ann  was  ill-suited  for  a  permanent  settle- 
ment, Conant  had  moved  to  Naumkeag  (Salem) 
and  made  a  tiny  colony  there.  In  this  Salem 
colony  of  four  men  begins  the  Puritan  history  of 
New  England. 

Rev.  John  White  of  Dorchester,  a  merchant  of 
means,  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  and  a  moderate 
Puritan,  (such  mixtures  were  not  uncommon  at 
the  time),  was  one  of  the  backers  of  the  Dorches- 
ter fishermen.  It  was  by  his  advice  that  the  Cape 
Ann  settlement  had  been  begun.  When  it  was 
abandoned  in  1627,  he  sent  word  through  Plym- 
outh to  Conant  and  his  followers,  urging  them 
to  hold  the  land  they  had  settled,  promising  them 
supplies  and  assuring  them  that  he  would  se- 
cure a  grant  in  their  names. 

With  Puritan  straightforwardness,  White  un- 
dertook to  arouse  Puritan  interest  in  the  venture. 


250       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

He  went  to  the  root  of  colonization.  He  declared 
that  it  was  the  character  of  the  settlers  which  de- 
termined success,  not  the  amount  of  money  spent 
nor  the  richness  of  the  site.  So  stirring  were  his 
words  and  pamphlets  that  the  Puritans  mustered 
to  his  cause. 

Although  there  was  no  actual  mention  of  Puri- 
tanism in  the  appeal  for  a  charter  made  to  the 
Council  for  New  England,  it  must  have  been  un- 
derstood. Perhaps  the  most  significant  fact  is 
that  among  the  six  grantees  named  in  the  charter 
of  March  19,  1628,  was  the  name  of  "Master  En- 
dicott,  a  man  well  known  to  divers  persons  of  good 
note ' '  and  who  was  a  Puritan  of  the  most  extreme 
type. 

The  Council  had  not  foregone  its  old  habit  of 
granting  lands  which  it  had  previously  bestowed 
on  others.  The  patent  of  1628  conveyed  to  Endi- 
cott  and  his  associates  all  the  territory  from  three 
miles  north  of  the  Merrimac  River  to  three  miles 
south  of  the  Charles  River,  thus  comprising  the 
northern  half  of  the  coastline  of  Massachusetts 
and  expending  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  believed  to  be 
but  seven  days'  march  away.  This  infringed  on 
the  prior  grants  given  to  Mason,  to  Morton,  to 
Gorges,  to  the  Thirty  Patentees,  to  the  Pilgrims  at 
Cape  Ann,  to  Wollaston  and  to  Conant.  Here  was 
a  heritage  of  quarrels  for  Endicott  and  his 
friends ! 

John  White  supplied  and  equipped  a  ship, 
which  sailed  on  June  20,  1628,  with  a  score  or 


THE  PURITAN  FLOOD  251 

more  settlers,  under  Endicott,  as  an  advance 
party.  Endicott  arrived  at  Naumkeag,  on  Sep- 
tember 6,  1628,  and  found  Conant  in  possession. 

As  Conant  had  the  rights  of  prior  occupancy, 
and  as  he  held  letters  from  White  stating  that 
an  effort  was  being  made  to  secure  a  patent  in  his 
name,  he  prepared  to  dispute  Endicott 's  author- 
ity. It  was  in  vain.  Endicott  had  the  charter 
and  had  been  sent  to  take  command.  Conant 
yielded  gracefully.  Naumkeag  was  rechristened 
" Salem,"  the  Hebrew  word  for  " peaceful." 

The  new  governor  soon  gave  a  taste  of  his 
opinions  and  his  methods.  Among  the  earlier 
grants  had  been  one  to  Morton,  a  strong  upholder 
of  Church  and  State,  who  had  come  into  conflict 
with  the  Pilgrims  several  times.  His  presence 
was  an  annoyance  to  the  stern  Puritan.  Endicott 
undertook  to  bring  him  into  subjection. 

Thomas  Morton's  story  is  one  of  the  strangest 
in  the  early  history  of  New  England.  He  was 
a  lawyer  of  London,  and  was  sent  out  by  Gorges, 
in  1622,  with  30  settlers  and  a  personal  grant  to  a 
small  piece  of  land  on  Boston  Harbor. 

Morton  was  a  strong  Church  of  England  man, 
who  had  written  pamphlets  of  the  most  fiery  loy- 
alty, and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  Council  had 
given  him  a  patent  in  order  to  silence  the  criti- 
cism that  they  favored  the  heretical  Separatists. 
He  returned  to  England  for  the  winter  and  came 
out  again  in  1623,  with  more  settlers,  all  of  the 

roaring  Tory"  type.     They  were  regarded  as 


<  < 


252       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

"henchmen  of  Satan"  by  their  Pilgrim  neighbors. 
Morton  soon  got  himself  the  nick-name  of 
"Merry"  Morton. 

The  Wessagusset  Colony,  first  established  by 
Weston  and  later  occupied  by  Gorges,  was  not 
far  from  Morton's  trading  post.  Indeed,  there  is 
question  whether  the  Wessagusset  grant  was  not 
an  infringement  on  Morton's  patent,  for,  in  those 
days  of  uncertain  land  titles,  it  was  hard  to  say 
where  one  territory  ended  and  another  began. 

In  any  case,  when  Gorges  abandoned  his  set- 
tlement, in  1625,  Morton  took  charge  of  it.  It  is 
scarcely  fair  to  say,  as  Bradford  did,  that  Morton 
"stole"  the  land.  On  the  contrary,  with  both 
Weston  and  Gorges  gone,  Morton  was  the  only 
man  on  Boston  Harbor  who  held  a  patent  direct 
from  the  Council  of  New  England. 

Morton  was  a  jovial  Englishman,  as  fond  of 
his  pipe  and  his  grog  as  he  was  loyal  to  King  and 
Church.  No  sour-visaged  religionist  was  he,  but, 
rather,  a  rollicking  fellow,  a  genial  host  and  a 
lover  of  fun.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  the  Eliza- 
bethan country  squire  about  him.  He  was  a  much 
more  characteristic  Englishman  than  the  sober 
and  decorous  Pilgrims,  for  whom  Morton  had  ever 
a  mocking  word. 

When  Wollaston  came  and  established  a  tobacco 
plantation  on  Mt.  Wollaston,  he  made  friends  with 
Morton.  But  Wollaston  wanted  an  easy  life  in 
a  genial  climate,  and  New  England  prospects  did 


THE  PURITAN  FLOOD  253 

not  please  him.  He  left  for  Virginia,  leaving  some 
indentured  " servants"  in  charge. 

Wollaston  was  wealthy  and  had  built  himself 
a  good  house.  Finding  that  he  was  not  coming 
back,  Morton  took  over  the  little  colony,  also.  Hav- 
ing a  keen  perception  of  the  needs  of  pioneer  life, 
he  called  the  servants  before  him,  tore  up  their 
indentures  and  gave  them  their  freedom,  opening 
a  cask  of  rum  to  celebrate  the  happy  day.  Having 
thus  made  them  his  loyal  and  devoted  tenants,  he 
rechristened  Mt.  Wollaston  (now  Quincy)  with  the 
name  of  "Merry  Mount."  He  promptly  estab- 
lished the  Church  of  England  service,  which 
plagued  the  Pilgrims  sorely. 

Came  May-Day,  1626.  Morton,  the  jovial,  un- 
dertook to  celebrate  it  fittingly,  according  to  his 
own  ideas.  He  planted  a  Maypole,  eighty  feet 
high,  opened  several  casks  of  beer  and  brandy, 
and  sent  invitations  broadcast  to  Indians  and 
whites  to  taste  freely  of  his  hospitality. 

According  to  the  Pilgrim  account,  the  settlers 
"frisked  and  frolicked"  with  the  Indian  girls 
around  the  Maypole.  Such  a  statement  was  prob- 
ably false,  as  any  student  of  Indian  customs  knows. 
The  braves  may  have  come,  the  Indian  girls 
would  not.  That  there  was  merry-making  and 
carousing  was  not  to  be  denied,  that  there  was 
"ungodly  dancing  upon  the  Mount  of  Dagon"  is 
sure,  and  the  Pilgrims  regarded  the  doings  at 
"Merry  Mount"  as  an  open  scandal. 

By  the  end  of  the  summer,  Morton  was  receiv- 


254       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

ing  the  good  results  of  his  hospitality.  The  In- 
dians came  to  him  freely,  sure  of  a  glass  of  "  fire- 
water" with  every  trade.  What  was  more,  he 
was  willing  to  pay  more  for  furs  than  the  Pil- 
grims were  ready  to  do,  for  those  shrewd  bar- 
gainers had  beaten  down  the  price  to  the  lowest 
notch.  In  consequence,  Morton  was  able  to  get 
the  pick  of  the  furs  and  still  to  make  an  enormous 
profit.  This  competition  not  only  turned  the  Pil- 
grims more  bitterly  against  him,  but  also  brought 
him  enmity  from  the  straggling  settlements  which 
were  springing  up  on  all  sides. 

A  new  accusation  was  brought  against  Morton 
in  the  summer  of  1627.  He  was  accused  of  re- 
ceiving runaway  servants  and  "blasphemers" 
who  had  been  banished  from  Plymouth. 

This  was  perfectly  true.  Morton,  however,  was 
within  his  rights.  More  than  that,  he  was  the 
only  person  who  had  rights,  for  the  Pilgrims  pos- 
sessed no  charter  and  were  living  at  Plymouth  on 
sufferance,  while  Morton  had  a  charter  and  was  a 
loyai  member  of  the  Church  of  England.  Brad- 
ford warned  him  that,  unless  he  walked  more  care- 
fully, he  would  be  dealt  with  harshly;  Mine  Host 
of  Merry  Mount  retorted  that  two  could  play  at 
that  game  and  threatened  to  "pull  their  canting 
meeting-house  about  their  ears." 

Morton  saw  clearly  that  a  strong  alliance  was 
forming  against  him.  The  retirement  of  the 
Thirty  Patentees  warned  him  that  the  Council 
of  New  England  could  give  him  little  help.  He 


NEW  ENGLAND 


CAPTAIN   JOHN    SMITH'S   MAP   OF   NEW   ENGLAND,    1614 

(  iiptain  John  Smith  tnadc  two  voyages  of  discovery  along  the  New  England  coast  . 
Though  not  its  first  disrnvrtvi  In-  explored  it  fully  and  wrote  a  book  called  "Drsrrip- 
tion  of  New  England."  Up  to  this  time  New  KiiKkuul  was  known  as  "North  Virginia" 
and  this  map  published  in  his  book  is  the  first  printed  record  of  the  name  of  "New 
Knsikuid"  and  of  many  of  the  names  of  capes  and  rivers  as  we  now  know  them. 


THE  PURITAN  FLOOD  255 

would  fight  his  own  battles !  He  imported  a  large 
cargo  of  guns  and  ammunition  from  England  and 
began  to  trade  them  for  furs,  probably  with  the 
intention  of  having  a  force  of  well-armed  allies 
at  his  back,  if  the  Pilgrims  should  proceed  to 
extremities. 

In  this  action,  Morton  was  clearly  in  the  wrong, 
and  Bradford  was  not  the  man  to  overlook  an 
opportunity.  Although  Merry  Mount  was  far 
outside  of  any  jurisdiction  that  the  Pilgrims  might 
claim,  they  regarded  the  arming  of  the  Indians 
as  a  serious  menace  to  all  the  white  settlers,  no 
matter  where  their  grants  might  lie.  They  sent 
a  sharp  message  to  Morton,  reminding  him  of 
the  King's  proclamation  against  selling  arms  to 
Indians.  The  jovial  and  belligerent  lawyer 
answered  that  a  Proclamation  was  not  a  law,  and 
warned  the  Pilgrims  to  take  good  heed  to  them- 
selves if  they  came  to  molest  him. 

The  Pilgrims  were  perfectly  ready  to  take  care 
of  themselves.  In  June,  1628,  they  gathered  their 
forces  together,  and,  summoning  aid  from  the 
other  settlements,  so  that  the  action  should  not 
appear  a  personal  matter,  they  placed  the  force 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Miles  Standish. 
The  settlements  joining  in  this  act  of  hostility 
were  Piscataqua  (Portsmouth),  Nantasket  (Hull), 
Naumkeag  (Salem),  Winnimisset  (Chelsea), 
Cocheco  on  the  Piscataqua  River,  Thompson's 
Island  and  Shawmut  (Boston).  This  list  seems 


256       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

formidable,  but  many  of  these  places  had  only  two 
or  three  settlers. 

Before  actual  hostilities  commenced,  there  was 
a  parley,  in  which  the  witty  lawyer  got  much  the 
better  of  the  doughty  captain.  Always  readier 
with  acts  than  with  words,  Captain  Miles  Stan- 
dish  suddenly  grabbed  the  "Lord  of  Misrule"  by 
the  coat-collar,  and,  despite  his  struggles,  dragged 
him  to  the  water  side,  grimly  warning  Morton's 
followers  that  any  attempt  at  rescue  would  be  met 
with  a  volley. 

"Merry"  Morton,  somewhat  ruffled  by  the  cap- 
tain's rough  handling,  but  not  a  bit  crestfallen, 
was  taken  to  Plymouth.  There  he  was  lectured  by 
Bradford  and  Brewster  with  long  speeches  and 
much  gravity  of  demeanor,  to  which  he  replied 
with  bitter  humor  and  contemptuous  ridicule.  He 
was  banished  and  sent  to  England  under  the 
charge  of  John  Oldham,  who  had  made  his  peace 
with  the  Pilgrims,  and  who  bore  letters  from 
Bradford  to  the  Council  of  New  England  recount- 
ing Morton's  misdemeanors  in  great  detail. 

On  his  arrival,  Morton  posed  as  a  victim  of 
religious  persecution  for  his  loyalty  to  the  Church 
of  England,  which  was  only  partly  true.  Oldham, 
who  was  still  smarting  from  his  early  disagree- 
ments with  the  Pilgrims,  supported  Morton's 
story. 

The  Council  pardoned  the  jolly  lawyer,  possibly 
because  of  his  success  in  the  fur  trade,  and,  the 
year  following,  Morton  was  back  at  "Merry 


THE  PURITAN  FLOOD  257 

Mount,"  with  another  cargo  of  beer  and  brandy, 
the  same  desire  to  play  the  part  of  a  jovial  host, 
and  a  deepened  disregard  for  the  feelings  of  a 
religious  community. 

On  his  return,  he  found  that  a  much  more  intol- 
erant group  of  religionists  had  visited  his  place. 
The  Puritans  had  been  there,  in  his  absence.  En- 
dicott  had  taken  upon  himself  to  interfere.  He 
had  marched  to  " Merry  Mount,"  hewed  down 
the  Maypole,  and  " admonished  Morton's  men  to 
look  there  should  be  better  walking." 

This  incident  was  significant.  The  Pilgrims, 
however  annoyed  with  Morton's  worldly  ways,  had 
not  actually  interfered  with  him,  until  he  com- 
menced selling  fire-arms  to  the  Indians ;  Endicott, 
without  any  provocation,  destroyed  an  absent 
man's  property  because  the  mere  presence  of  a 
May-pole  on  an  estate  with  which  he  had  no  con- 
cern offended  his  religious  sensibilities. 

Not  long  after  Morton's  return,  Endicott  paid 
another  visit  to  " Merry  Mount."  He  came  to 
repeat  his  warning,  but  the  jovial  lawyer,  thor- 
oughly enraged  at  the  Puritan  intrusion  during 
his  absence,  swore  vengeance  on  the  Puritans  and 
vowed  that  the  laws  of  England  would  protect 
him. 

Endicott  coldly  retaliated  by  producing  a  paper 
which  he  demanded  that  Morton  should  sign.  It 
was  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Puritan  colony, 
but  in  it  Endicott  had  omitted  the  words  of  the 
charter  "so  that  nothing  be  done  contrary  or 


258       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

repugnant  to  the  laws  of  the  Kingdom  of  Eng- 
land." This  came  near  to  treason  and  Morton 
said  so. 

The  Puritan  leader  did  not  argue  the  point. 
He  arrested  Morton,  broke  open  the  house,  appro- 
priated all  his  corn  and  other  provisions,  seized 
the  furs  and  articles  of  trade,  and  sent  Morton 
back  to  England. 

His  fanaticism  cost  him  his  place.  The  Council 
realized  that  a  continuance  of  such  policy  might 
result  in  the  cancellation  of  its  charter.  Morton 
was  released  and  allowed  to  return,  the  same  ship 
carrying  Endicott's  deposition  and  disgrace. 

But  "Merry"  Morton  was  merry  no  longer. 
The  Puritan  flood  had  commenced.  The  Boston 
colony  was  too  strong  to  be  defied.  His  men  had 
all  been  scattered.  His  money  was  spent.  He 
fought  a  losing  fight  for  many  years  and  died  in 
poverty  at  the  last. 

Endicott  had  other  troubles  on  his  hands  besides 
the  question  of  * '  Merry  Mount. ' '  One  of  these  was 
a  grant  given  by  John  Gorges  to  John  Oldham, 
and  to  Sir  William  Brereton,  dividing  his  original 
patent  between  them.  The  fates  of  these  two 
colonies  may  be  dismissed  in  a  few  words.  Pres- 
sure was  brought  upon  Brereton,  and  he  joined 
his  interests  with  those  of  the  Puritans.  Oldham 
was  ejected  from  his  rights,  without  recompense, 
and,  later,  he  played  a  part  in  the  founding  of 
Connecticut. 

Puritan  desires  for  emigration  were  growing 


THE  PURITAN  FLOOD  259 

stronger.  The  years  1628-1629  were  dark  ones 
for  Protestantism.  The  surrender  of  Rochelle  to 
Cardinal  Richelieu  had  ended  the  career  of  the 
French  Huguenots  as  a  political  party.  The  Ger- 
man Protestants,  engaged  in  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  were  at  the  lowest  ebb  of  their  fortunes. 
Charles  I  was  putting  down  Nonconformists  with 
a  merciless  hand. 

The  English  Puritans  leaned  more  and  more  to 
the  plan  of  establishing  a  Commonwealth  in  a 
new  country,  a  commonwealth  which  should  be 
strictly  English  and  strictly  Puritan,  and  which, 
from  the  very  beginning,  should  be  organized  on 
such  lines  that  royalism  would  never  be  able  to 
creep  in. 

It  is  essential  to  an  understanding  of  American 
History  to  realize  what  the  Puritans  planned. 
They  did  not  seek  to  exploit  the  natives,  as  the 
Spanish ;  nor  to  confine  themselves  to  fur-trading, 
as  the  French  and  Dutch ;  nor  to  establish  a  feudal 
estate,  as  did  Raleigh ;  nor  to  slave  on  commercial 
lines  for  English  merchants,  as  the  Virginia  Com- 
pany ;  nor  to  build  up  a  landed  aristocracy,  as  in 
Maryland;  nor  yet  to  found  isolated  religious 
communities,  such  as  Plymouth.  Nor  even — as 
has  been  often  mis-stated — did  they  purpose  a 
refuge  for  the  religiously  persecuted  ones  of  the 
earth. 

Far  from  it!  As  seventeenth-century  English- 
men, they  had  little  love  for  foreigners.  As  Puri- 
tans, they  had  no  love  at  all  for  any  who  differed 


from  them  in  religious  opinions,  even  in  the 
smallest  degree. 

By  no  stretch  of  the  imagination  can  it  be 
thought  that  Endicott,  Winthrop  or  any  of  the 
Puritans  had  the  faintest  intention  of  establish- 
ing either  political  or  religious  liberty.  They 
came  to  found  a  Bible  Commonwealth  after  their 
own  pattern,  in  which  they  should  play  the  prin- 
cipal parts  and  could  force  every  one  else  to  obey 
their  will. 

The  extreme  Puritans  bent  all  their  energies 
to  extending  the  powers  of  the  Charter  of  1628. 
On  March  4,  1629,  Charles  I  confirmed  to  a  cor- 
poration entitled  "The  Governor  and  Company 
of  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England"  all  the 
territory  mentioned  in  the  patent  of  the  year 
before,  but  with  powers  so  full  and  free  that  it 
is  amazing  that  the  King  should  have  granted 
them.  Undoubtedly,  his  hand  was  forced. 
Matthew  Cradock  was  named  as  the  first  Gov- 
ernor. 

First  a  single  ship  and  then  a  fleet  of  five  ships 
were  hurried  to  New  England,  arriving  in  June, 
1629.  These  six  vessels  brought  over  400  colonists 
and  a  goodly  supply  of  cattle  and  goats.  The 
colony  was  firmly  established.  A  Puritan  Church 
organization  was  formed  by  Endicott,  obedience 
to  which  was  rigidly  enforced. 

Endicott 's  opinions  are  clearly  set  forth  in  his 
description  of  the  religion  of  Plymouth  Colony, 
as  "no  other  than  is  warranted  by  the  evidence 


THE  PURITAN  FLOOD  261 

of  the  truth."  He  was,  therefore,  not  only  a  Puri- 
tan but  a  Separatist,  or,  as  the  word  was  then 
beginning  to  be  used,  an  Independent.  Two  min- 
isters who  had  come  with  the  colonists,  Samuel 
Skelton  and  Francis  Higginson,  declared  them- 
selves Independents  and  were  elected  respectively 
pastor  and  teacher  of  the  church. 

John  Browne  and  Samuel  Browne,  two  of  the 
councillors  who  had  been  sent  out  by  the  new 
Massachusetts  Bay  Company  to  assist  Endicott, 
refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  this  Inde- 
pendent Church.  They  were  moderate  Puritans, 
hostile  to  Charles  I  and  to  Archbishop  Laud,  but 
conforming  to  the  Church  of  England.  Resting 
on  the  rights  set  forth  in  the  charter,  they  held 
separate  religious  services,  under  the  rites  of 
the  Church  of  England.  The  moderate  Puritans 
among  the  settlers  attended  these  services. 

Endicott,  in  a  most  high-handed  and  peremp- 
tory fashion,  arrested  the  Brownes  and  sent  them 
back  to  England.  This  action  was  inexcusable, 
for  it  was  flatly  contrary  to  the  conditions  of  the 
charter  and  in  defiance  of  the  leaders  in  England 
who  had  sent  these  men  as  councillors. 

The  Brownes  complained  to  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  Company,  which  promptly  censured  Endicott 
for  "undigested  counsels  which  may  have  an  ill 
construction  with  the  state  here,  and  make  us 
obnoxious  to  an  adversary."  When  this  act  of 
fanaticism  was  capped  by  Endicott 's  illegal  seizure 
of  "Merry"  Morton's  property,  the  Company 


262       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

got  rid  of  him.  It  was  time!  Endicott's  "trea- 
sonable and  heretical  doings"  had  reached  the 
ears  of  the  King.  The  new  charter  was  in  danger. 

Governor  Cradock  laid  before  the  Corporation 
a  startling  series  of  suggestions  that  the  govern- 
ment of  Massachusetts  Bay  should  be  transferred 
to  the  colony  itself.  On  August  26,  1629,  twelve 
of  the  most  influential  members  (among  them  John 
Winthrop  and  Thomas  Dudley)  met  at  Cambridge 
and  bound  themselves  by  a  solemn  promise  to 
emigrate  to  New  England  with  their  families  if 
the  transfer  of  government  could  be  effected. 

Three  days  later,  the  Corporation  formally 
agreed.  There  was  some  discussion  as  to  whether 
a  royal  grant  was  legally  transferable  but  the 
courts  approved  and  the  transfer  was  made. 
Cradock,  who  did  not  wish  to  leave  England,  re- 
signed, and  John  Winthrop  was  chosen  as  Gov- 
ernor. Thomas  Dudley  was  named  as  Assistant 
Governor.  Both  belonged  to  the  extreme  party 
in  Puritanism. 

On  March  29, 1630,  Governor  Winthrop  boarded 
the  Arabella,  the  flagship  of  a  fleet  of  eleven  ves- 
sels, carrying,  in  all,  some  700  colonists.  After 
a  long  and  stormy  voyage  of  nine  weeks,  the  ships 
arrived  at  Salem  on  June  12,  1630. 

Winthrop  found  Endicott's  colony  "in  a  sad 
and  unexpected  condition."  Nearly  a  third  of 
the  colonists  were  dead,  most  of  the  remainder 
were  weak  from  famine  and  sickness,  there  was 
scant  food  and  less  contentment.  All  would  have 


THE  PURITAN  FLOOD  263 

died  during  the  winter  had  not  the  Pilgrims  sent 
them  a  doctor,  medical  supplies  and  all  the  pro- 
visions they  could  spare. 

The  arrival  of  700  colonists  did  little  to  help 
these  conditions,  for,  as  always,  the  space  assigned 
for  food  in  the  ships  was  too  small  and  the  long 
voyage  had  exhausted  most  of  the  provisions.  By 
some  extraordinary  piece  of  negligence,  more- 
over, a  large  part  of  the  supplies  which  had  been 
intended  for  use  that  summer  had  been  left  behind. 

Endicott  resented  the  arrival  of  Winthrop  to 
supplant  him,  and  many  of  the  original  settlers 
followed  his  lead.  But  Governor  Winthrop  was  a 
severe  man,  and  Dudley  was  severer  still.  Woe 
betide  any  who  murmured !  Endicott  was  quickly 
silenced. 

Winthrop,  within  a  few  days  of  his  arrival,  de- 
cided that  Salem  was  an  undesirable  site  for  so 
great  a  colony  as  now  was  intended.  He  set  up 
his  capital  at  Charlestown,  which  had  been  laid 
out  on  Gorges'  property,  the  year  before. 

Early  days  here  were  gloomy.  More  than  100 
of  the  new  settlers  refused  to  stay  and  went  back 
to  England  on  the  returning  vessels  of  the  fleet 
which  had  brought  them.  Some  60  more  returned 
on  another  ship,  declaring  roundly  that  the  ty- 
ranny of  Winthrop  was  no  better  than  the  tyranny 
of  Charles  I.  Others  declared  their  intention  of 
going  back  in  the  spring,  since  the  ministers  of 
the  Independent  or  Congregational  churches  were 
"as  heady  and  hierarchical  as  the  popish  prel- 


264       THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLES 

ates"  of  England.  This  opinion  of  American 
Puritanism  by  English  Puritans  is  worth  noting. 

Stern  measures  kept  this  mutinous  spirit  in 
hand,  but  thunderings  from  a  pulpit  could  not  pre- 
vent hunger.  Before  Christmas,  over  200  of  the 
new  arrivals  had  died.  Only  clams,  mussels  and 
fish  caught  in  the  bay,  prevented  another  ' '  Starv- 
ing Time"  like  to  that  of  Jamestown  in  1609. 

Although  the  Pilgrims  again  came  to  their  aid, 
men  and  women  were  dying  on  every  hand.  The 
outlook  was  desperate,  when,  on  February  5, 1631, 
a  ship  arrived  in  the  bay,  bringing  few  settlers, 
but  loaded  to  the  last  inch  of  space  with  the  sup- 
plies and  stores  that  the  great  fleet  had  left  behind. 
This  saved  the  day.  Many  more  ships  came  in  the 
spring.  The  Puritan  flood  had  begun. 

During  the  next  two  or  three  years,  the  Puri- 
tans emigrated  in  such  numbers  as  to  cause  alarm 
in  England.  The  mother  country  saw  that  many 
of  her  best  citizens  were  leaving.  Several  sub- 
stantial towns  were  organized  on  Massachusetts 
Bay,  and,  by  1634,  there  were  4000  persons  in  the 
colony.  Nearly  all  were  Puritans,  but  there  were 
Puritans  of  every  shade  of  opinion  among  them, 
from  conforming  Churchmen  who  opposed  only 
the  abuses  of  royalism  and  prelacy,  to  the  wildest 
hot-heads  of  the  most  fanatic  breed. 

Winthrop  held  them  all  in  hand  with  amazing 
strength  and  wisdom.  He  created  an  ecclesias- 
tical state,  a  Bible  Commonwealth,  a  theocracy  in 


THE  PURITAN  FLOOD  265 

which  the  Corporation  of  Massachusetts  Bay  was 
the  earthly  voice  of  God. 

Such  a  condition  would  have  been  intolerable 
to  Englishmen  were  it  not  that  Winthrop  was  as 
just  as  he  was  stern,  as  honest  as  he  was  unyield- 
ing, and  as  sincere  as  he  was  bigoted.  Godliness 
in  Massachusetts  Bay  was  real,  not  sham.  The 
very  difficulties  and  sufferings  of  the  time  brought 
about  a  lofty  spirit  and  a  high  devotion  which 
made  the  early  Puritans  of  New  England  the  finest 
body  of  men  and  women  that  ever  founded  a  state. 

Even  so,  a  Commonwealth  based  on  narrowness 
of  doctrine  could  not  enslave  Englishmen.  Men 
no  less  able  and  no  less  sincere  than  Winthrop, 
no  less  eager  to  uphold  what  they  held  to  be  the 
right,  were  equally  ready  to  face  the  wilderness. 

Such  men  voluntarily  exiled  themselves  from 
the  intolerant  tyranny  of  Salem  and  Charlestown, 
with  the  same  desire  for  religious  liberty  as  had 
impelled  the  Puritans  to  exile  themselves  from 
England.  Thus  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  New 
Hampshire  and  Maine  were  born.  Their  history 
and  that  of  Massachusetts  Bay  up  to  and  after 
the  New  England  Confederation  of  1643,  belong 
rather  to  the  story  of  the  development  of  the 
colonies  than  to  the  planting  of  them. 

Thus  were  planted  on  the  North  American  con- 
tinent the  four  great  stocks  of  the  white  race 
whose  influence  was  most  potent  in  the  develop- 
ment of  America. 

In  Florida,  along  the  shore  of  the  Gulf  of 


Mexico  and  in  southern  California,  the  Catholic 
Spaniards  held  sway. 

An  English  Church  and  royalist  group,  partly 
feudal  with  large  plantations  and  a  system  of 
semi-slavery,  and  partly  commercial  with  London 
merchants  for  directors,  controlled  Virginia. 

A  feudal  proprietorship  or  palatinate,  Roman 
Catholic  in  character,  but  tolerant  in  administra- 
tion, had  been  established  in  Maryland. 

On  the  Upper  Delaware  and  Hudson  Rivers, 
the  Dutch  traders  of  the  Reformed  Church  main- 
tained a  precarious  hold. 

The  Plymouth  Colony  of  Separatists  had  won 
for  itself  a  place  of  respect. 

The  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  was  evolving 
into  a  Puritan  Commonwealth,  intolerant  of  dis- 
sent, and  sending  out  branches  of  a  more  mod- 
erate Puritanism  to  found  other  states. 

In  Acadia  and  on  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  the 
French  maintained  a  gallant  hold,  despite  their 
recent  defeat  at  the  hands  of  England. 

Settlements  in  Newfoundland  were  little  more 
than  fishing  posts  and  the  fishing  rights  were 
internationally  divided. 

Of  the  interior,  nothing  was  known.  A  few 
expeditions  by  the  Spanish  conquistadores  in  the 
far  south  had  failed  to  reveal  any  civilization  that 
might  be  exploited,  and  no  settlement  had  been 
made.  A  few  inland  journeys  had  been  made  by 
French  Jesuit  Fathers  in  the  north,  but  these 


THE  PURITAN  FLOOD  267 

were  only  the  precursors  of  the  great  explorations 
to  come. 

Hudson  Bay  and  the  Great  Lakes  were  believed 
to  be  united,  and  despite  the  failure  to  find  a 
strait,  were  believed  to  be  a  part  of  that  South 
Sea  that  washed  the  shores  of  China. 

Only  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  years  elapsed 
between  Columbus  and  Winthrop.  The  actors  in 
that  great  struggle  which  should  rock  America  to 
its  foundations  were  already  on  the  scene.  Little 
did  they  imagine  that  a  time  would  come  when 
their  descendants  should  dare  to  strike  off  the 
shackles  of  European  dependence. 

Still  less  could  any  of  these  colonists  have  fore- 
seen a  Republic  of  United  States,  wherein  there 
could  exist  such  high  and  holy  things  as  political 
equality,  personal  liberty  and  religious  toleration. 
Not  one  of  these  colonies  could  have  brought  about 
such  a  result,  alone.  Not  to  one,  more  than  an- 
other, is  the  credit  due.  The  glory  belongs  to  all. 


THE   END 


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